T 


REESE    LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Received...         <-^%3  <=CV 
Accessions  .\c.2-^76?      Shelf  1 


z*- 


V         ?35" 


The  Writings 


OF 


Sir  Thomas  Browne 


SP 


OF  THE 


UNIVERSITY 


RELIGIO  MEDICI 

A    LETTER    TO    A    FRIEND 

CHRISTIAN   MORALS 

URN-BURIAL 

AND  OTHER 
PAPERS 


BY 


SIR   TH 


t.  M.  D. 


BOSTON 

TICKNOR    AND    FIELDS 
1862 


CONTENTS. 


Biographical  Sketch  of  the  Author 


Page 

vii 


Religio  Medici i 

A  Letter  to  a  Friend       ....  157 

True  Christian  Morals        .       .       .  183 

Hydriotaphia.     Urn-Burial  .       .       .  275 

From  the  Garden  of  Cyrus         .       .  353 

From  Vulgar  Errors 375 

Fragment  on  Mummies  ....  409 

On  Dreams 416 

Letters        .       .       .       .       .       .       .  424 

Resolves 430 


Biographical  Sketch  of 

The  Author. 


OR  a  more  detailed  account  of  the 
life  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  his  Biography 
by  Dr.  Johnson,  and  the  Supple- 
mentary Memoir  by  Simon  Wilkin,  Esq.,  both 
included  in  the  London  edition  of  the  Complete 
Works,  in  four  volumes.  Coleridge,  Lamb, 
Hazlitt,  Hallam,  Bulwer,  and  other  distinguished 
writers,  have  put  on  record  their  estimate  of 
his  genius,  and  Cowper  was  so  imbued  with 
the  spirit  and  beauty  of  the  thought  in  the 
Religio  Medici  and  other  writings  of  Browne, 
that  numerous  resemblant  passages  in  the  Task 
have  been  frequently  pointed  out.  The  present 
Editor  will  content  himself  with  giving  a  few 
dates  of  the  principal  occurrences  in  the  author's 
life,  and  adding  to  these  some  interesting  pas- 
sages written  by  one  who  was   for  thirty  years 


viii  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

Sir  Thomas  Browne's  intimate  friend.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  Mr.  Whitefoot  did  not  carry- 
out  his  intention  of  writing  an  extended  memoir 
of  his  well-beloved  companion,  for  what  he  has 
left  to  us  is  conceived  in  so  attractive  a  manner, 
we  cannot  but  lament  his  original  design  was 
not  fully  completed.  How  much  he  valued  Sir 
Thomas's  friendship  may  be  gathered  from  his 
remark,  that  he  "ever  esteemed  it  a  special  fa- 
vour of  Divine  Providence  to  have  had  a  more 
particular  acquaintance  with  this  excellent  per- 
son, for  two  thirds  of  his  life,  than  any  other 
man  that  is  now  (1682)  left  alive." 

Sir  Thomas  Browne  was  born  in  London  on 
the  19th  of  October,  1605,  and  died  on  his 
birthday,  at  Norwich,  in  1682.  His  father 
came  of  an  ancient  Upton  family,  in  Cheshire, 
and  enjoyed  a  good  name  as  an  honest  mer- 
chant. A  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  has  recorded 
of  this  worthy  man  an  act  very  touching  in  its 
pious  significance.  She  says,  in  a  memorandum 
in  her  own  hand,  appended  to  a  brief  account  of 
her  distingushed  parent,  "his  father  used  to  open 
his  breast  when  he  was  asleep,  and  kiss  it  in 
prayers  over  him,  as  't  is  said  of  Origen's  father, 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  would  take  possession 
there."  This  excellent  person  dying  when  his 
son  Thomas  was  yet  a  lad,  the  boy  was  de- 
frauded by  one  of  his  guardians,  but  found  his 


OF   THE  AUTHOR.  ix 

way  to  the  school  of  Winchester  for  his  educa- 
tion. In  1623  he  went  to  Oxford,  entering  as  a 
gentleman-commoner,  and  graduated  from  the 
newly  named  Pembroke  College  in  1626-7. 
Turning  his  attention  to  physic  after  taking  his 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  he  practised  in  his 
profession  some  time  in  Oxfordshire.  He  after- 
wards travelled  into  France  and  Italy,  visiting 
Montpellier  and  Padua,  then  celebrated  schools 
of  physic,  and,  returning  home  through  Holland, 
was  created  Doctor  of  Medicine  at  Leyden.  In 
1634  he  is  supposed  to  have  returned  to  London, 
and  to  have  written  his  "  Religio  Medici "  * 
during  the  next  year.  This  celebrated  treatise 
was  not  printed  till  1642,  when,  without  his 
consent,  the  book  was  published.  It  at  once 
attracted  great  attention,  and  was  criticised  in 
a  volume  by  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  "who,"  says 
Lord  Clarendon,  "was  a  person  very  eminent 
and  notorious  throughout  the  whole  course  of 
his  life,  from  his  cradle  to  the  grave."  The 
"  Religio  Medici "  was  very  soon  translated  into 
Latin,  Italian,  German,  Dutch,  and  French. 

Dr.    Browne   settled   in   Norwich,  where  his 
practice   became  very  extensive,   many  patients 

*  "  This  book  paints  certain  parts  of  my  moral  and  intellectual 
being  (the  best  parts,  no  doubt)  better  than  any  other  book  I 
have  ever  met  with  j  —  and  the  style  is  throughout  delicious."  — 
S.  T.  Coleridge. 


x  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

coming  from  a  distance  to  consult  so  eminent  a 
physician,  now  made  more  famous  by  the  pub- 
lication of  so  admirable  a  book.  In  1641,  he 
married  Mrs.  Mileham,  a  most  excellent  lady, 
whose  graces  both  of  mind  and  body  well  fitted 
her  to  become  the  partner  of  her  distinguished 
husband.  They  lived  together  forty-one  years, 
and  with  their  ten  children  formed  a  household 
singularly  happy  in  all  its  relations.  In  1646 
Dr.  Browne  printed  his  "  Enquiries  into  Vulgar 
and  Common  Errors";  in  1658,  his  "Hydriota- 
phia,  or  Urn  Burial,"  adding  to  the  treatise  his 
"  Garden  of  Cyrus."  His  other  writings  were 
published  after  his  death,  many  of  them  being 
left  corrected  for  the  press  by  his  own  hand. 
Charles  the  Second  conferred  on  him  the  honor 
of  knighthood  in  1671,  while  on  a  tour  to  Nor- 
wich ;  and  Evelyn,  who  went  down  at  that  time 
to  join  the  royal  party,  having,  as  he  says,  "a 
desire  to  see  that  famous  scholar  and  physitian, 
Dr.  T.  Browne,"  paid  him  a  visit.  He  makes 
eulogistic  mention  of  Sir  Thomas's  home,  and 
tells  us  that  "  his  whole  house  and  garden  was  a 
paradise  and  cabinet  of  rarities,  and  that  of  the 
best  collections,  especially  medails,  books,  plants, 
and  natural  things."  So  the  good  physician's 
days  passed  onward,  filled  with  high  reputation, 
and  devoted  to  constant  usefulness  in  his  pro- 
fession, till  in  his  seventy-sixth  year  he  fell  ill 


OF   THE  AUTHOR.  xi 

and  died.  Submission  to  the  will  of  God  and 
fearlessness  of  death  were  among  the  expressions 
last  on  his  lips.  His  burial-place  is  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter,  Mancroft,  in  Norwich, 
where  a  mural  monument  on  the  south  pillar 
of  the  altar  records  his  learning  and  his  virtues. 

The  Rev.  John  Whitefoot,  who  lived  so 
many  years  the  constant  friend  and  neighbour 
of  Sir  Thomas,  was  requested  to  draw  up  some 
"  minutes "  after  the  death  of  his  old  compan- 
ion. He  complied  in  these  fitting  and  worthy-* 
to-be-remembered  words. 

"  For  a  character  of  his  person,  his  complex- 
ion and  hair  were  answerable  to  his  name  ;  his 
stature  was  moderate,  and  habit  of  body  neither 
fat  nor  lean,  but  evo-apnos. 

"  In  his  habit  of  clothing,  he  had  an  aversion 
to  all  finery,  and  affected  plainness  both  in  the 
fashion  and  ornaments.  He  ever  wore  a  cloak, 
or  boots,  when  few  others  did.  He  kept  him- 
self always  very  warm,  and  thought  it  most  safe 
so  to  do,  though  he  never  loaded  himself  with 
such  a  multitude  of  garments  as  Suetonius  re- 
ports of  Augustus,  enough  to  clothe  a  good 
family. 

"The  horizon  of  his  understanding  was  much 
larger  than  the  hemisphere  of  the  world.  All 
that  was  visible  in  the  heavens  he  comprehended 


xii  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 

so  well,  that  few  that  are  under  them  knew  so 
much.  He  could  tell  the  number  of  the  visible 
stars  in  his  horizon,  and  call  them  all  by  their 
names  that  had  any  ;  and  of  the  earth  he  had 
such  a  minute  and  exact  geographical  knowl- 
edge, as  if  he  had  been  by  Divine  Providence 
ordained  surveyor-general  of  the  whole  terres- 
trial orb,  and  its  products,  minerals,  plants,  and 
animals.  He  was  so  curious  a  botanist,  that, 
besides  the  specifical  distinctions,  he  made  nice 
and  elaborate  observations,  equally  useful  as 
entertaining. 

"  His  memory,  though  not  so  eminent  as  that 
of  Seneca  or  Scaliger,  was  capacious  and  tena- 
cious, insomuch  that  he  remembered  all  that  was 
remarkable  in  any  book  that  he  had  read,  and 
not  only  knew  all  persons  again  that  he  had  ever 
seen  at  any  distance  of  time,  but  remembered 
the  circumstances  of  their  bodies,  and  their  par- 
ticular discourses  and  speeches. 

"  In  the  Latin  poets  he  remembered  every- 
thing that  was  acute  and  pungent.  He  had  read 
most  of  the  historians,  ancient  and  modern, 
wherein  his  observations  were  singular,  nor 
taken  notice  of  by  common  readers.  He  was 
excellent  company  when  he  was  at  leisure,  and 
expressed  more  light  than  heat  in  the  temper  of 
his  brain. 

"  He  had  no  despotical  power  over  his  affec- 


OF   THE  AUTHOR.  xiii 

tions  and  passions,  (that  was  a  privilege  of  original 
perfection,  forfeited  by  the  neglect  of  the  use  of 
it,)  but  as  large  a  political  power  over  them  as 
any  Stoic  or  man  of  his  time ;  whereof  he  gave 
so  great  experiment,  that  he  hath  very  rarely 
been  known  to  have  been  overcome  with  any 
of  them.  The  strongest  that  were  found  in 
him,  both  of  the  irascible  and  concupiscible, 
were  under  the  control  of  his  reason.  Of  ad- 
miration, which  is  one  of  them,  being  the  only 
product  either  of  ignorance  or  uncommon  knowl- 
edge, he  had  more  and  less  than  other  men,  upon 
the  same  account  of  his  knowing  more  than  oth- 
ers ;  so  that,  though  he  met  with  many  rarities, 
he  admired  them  not  so  much  as  others  do. 

"  He  was  never  seen  to  be  transported  with 
mirth,  or  dejected  with  sadness ;  always  cheer- 
ful, but  rarely  merry,  at  any  sensible  rate  ;  sel- 
dom heard  to  break  a  jest ;  and  when  he  did, 
he  would  be  apt  to  blush  at  the  levity  of  it.  His 
gravity  was  natural,  without  affectation. 

"  His  modesty  was  visible  in  a  natural,  habit- 
ual blush,  which  was  increased  upon  the  least 
occasion,  and  oft  discovered  without  any  observ- 
able cause. 

"They  that  knew  no  more  of  him  than  by 
the  briskness  of  his  writings,  found  themselves 
deceived  in  their  expectation  when  they  came 
in  his  company,  noting  the  gravity  and  sobriety 


xiv  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

of  his  aspect  and  conversation,  —  so  free  from 
loquacity  or  much  talkativeness,  that  he  was 
something  difficult  to  be  engaged  in  any  dis- 
course, though  when  he  was  so,  it  was  always- 
singular,  and  never  trite  or  vulgar.  Parsimoni- 
ous in  nothing  but  his  time,  whereof  he  made 
as  much  improvement  with  as  little  loss  as  any 
man  in  it  ;  when  he  had  any  to  spare  from  his 
drudging  practice,  he  was  scarce  patient  of  any 
diversion  from  his  studies  ;  so  impatient  of  sloth 
and  idleness,  that  he  would  say  he  could  not  do 
nothing. 

"  Sir  Thomas  understood  most  of  the  Euro- 
pean languages ;  viz.  all  that  are  in  Flutter's 
Bible,  which  he  made  use  of.  The  Latin  and 
Greek  he  understood  critically.  The  Oriental 
languages,  which  never  were  vernacular  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  he  thought  the  use  of  them 
would  not  answer  the  time  and  pains  of  learning 
them  j  yet  had  so  great  a  veneration  for  the 
matrix  of  them,  viz.  the  Hebrew,  consecrated 
to  the  oracles  of  God,  that  he  was  not  content 
to  be  totally  ignorant  of  it,  though  very  little 
of  his  science  is  to  be  found  in  any  books  of 
that  primitive  language.  And  though  much  is 
said  to  be  written  in  the  derivative  idioms  of  that 
tongue,  especially  the  Arabic,  yet  he  was  satis- 
fied with  the  translations,  wherein  he  found 
nothing  admirable. 


OF   THE  AUTHOR.  Xv 

cc  In  his  religion,  he  continued  in  the  same 
mind  which  he  had  declared  in  his  first  book, 
written  when  he  was  but  thirty  years  old,  his 
1  Religio  Medici,'  wherein  he  fully  assented  to 
that  of  the  Church  of  England,  preferring  it 
before  any  in  the  world,  as  did  the  learned  Gro- 
tius.  He  attended  the  public  service  very  con- 
stantly when  he  was  not  withheld  by  his  practice, 
never  missed  the  sacrament  in  his  parish  if  he 
were  in  town,  read  the  best  English  sermons  he 
could  hear  of  with  liberal  applause,  and  delighted 
not  in  controversies.  In  his  last  sickness,  where- 
in he  continued  about  a  week's  time,  enduring 
great  pain  of  the  colic,  besides  a  continual  fever, 
with  as  much  patience  as  hath  been  seen  in  any 
man,  without  any  pretence  of  stoical  apathy, 
animosity,  or  vanity  of  not  being  concerned 
thereat,  or  suffering  no  impeachment  of  happi- 
ness, —  '  Nihil  agis,  dolor.' 

"  His  patience  was  founded  upon  the  Chris- 
tian philosophy  and  a  sound  faith  of  God's 
providence,  and  a  meek  and  holy  submission 
thereunto,  which  he  expressed  in  few  words. 
I  visited  him  near  his  end,  when  he  had  not 
strength  to  hear  or  speak  much  j  the  last  words 
which  I  heard  from  him  were,  besides  some  ex- 
pressions of  dearness,  that  he  did  freely  submit 
to  the  will  of  God,  being  without  fear.  He  had 
often    triumphed    over   the    king    of   terrors    in 


xvi  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 

others,  and  given  many  repulses  in  the  defence 
of  patients  ;  but  when  his  own  turn  came,  he 
submitted  with  a  meek,  rational,  and  religious 
courage. 

"  He  might  have  made  good  the  old  saying  of 
'  Dat  Galenus  opes,'  had  he  lived  in  a  place  that 
could  have  afforded  it.  But  his  indulgence  and 
liberality  to  his  children,  especially  in  their  trav- 
els, two  of  his  sons  in  divers  countries,  and 
two  of  his  daughters  in  France,  spent  him  more 
than  a  little.  He  was  liberal  in  his  house-enter- 
tainments and  in  his  charity.  He  left  a  comfort- 
able but  no  great  estate,  both  to  his  lady  and 
children,  gained  by  his  own  industry. 

"  Such  was  his  sagacity  and  knowledge  of  all 
history,  ancient  and  modern,  and  his  observations 
thereupon  so  singular,  that  it  hath  been  said  by 
them  that  knew  him  best,  that  if  his  profession 
and  place  of  abode  would  have  suited  his  ability, 
he  would  have  made  an  extraordinary  man  for 
the  Privy  Council,  not  much  inferior  to  the  fa- 
mous Padre  Paolo,  the  late  oracle  of  the  Vene- 
tian state. 

"  Though  he  were  no  prophet,  nor  son  of  a 
prophet,  yet  in  that  faculty  which  comes  nearest 
it  he  excelled,  i.  e.  the  stochastic,  wherein  he 
was  seldom  mistaken  as  to  future  events,  as  well 
public  as  private,  but  not  apt  to  discover  any 
presages  or  superstition." 


OF   THE  AUTHOR.  xvii 

Dr.  Johnson  affirms  that  "  it  is  not  on  the 
praises  of  others,  but  on  his  own  writings,  that 
Sir  Thomas  Browne  is  to  depend  for  the  es- 
teem of  posterity ;  of  which  he  will  not  easily 
be  deprived  while  learning  shall  have  any  rever- 
ence among  men ;  for  there  is  no  science  in 
which  he  does  not  discover  some  skill,  and  scarce 
any  kind  of  knowledge,  profane  or  sacred,  ab- 
struse or  elegant,  which  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  cultivated  with  success "  :  and  he  also 
declares  that  "  there  is  scarcely  a  writer  to  be 
found,  whose  profession  was  not  divinity,  that 
has  so  frequently  testified  his  belief  of  the  sacred 
writings,  has  appealed  to  them  with  such  unlim- 
ited submission,  or  mentioned  them  with  such 
unvaried  reverence. " 

In  arranging  this  edition,  the  notes  and  read- 
ings adopted  by  several  other  editors  of  Sir 
Thomas  Browne's  writings  have  been  largely 
consulted.  Especial  use  has  been  made  of  the 
labors  of  Henrv  Gardiner,  M.  A.  of  Exeter 
College,  Oxford,  and  of  the  late  Rev.  Alexan- 
der Young,  D.  D.,  of  Boston.  It  is  hoped  that 
the  endeavor  to  supply  a  more  perfect  text  than 
has  hitherto  appeared  has  been  a  successful 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  Editor  and  of  those 
friends  who  have  kindly  aided  him  with  their 
corrections  and  annotations. 


XY111 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 


The  portrait  which  accompanies  this  vol- 
ume is  newly  engraved  from  the  head  in  the 
folio  of  1 686,  the  original  painting  of  which  is 
at  Oxford. 

J.  T.  F. 

Boston,  December \  1861. 


Religio   Medici. 


tjhiveesity] 
To  the  Reader, 


ERTAINLY  that  man  were  greedy 
of  life,  who  should  desire  to  live 
when  all  the  world  were  at  an  end ; 
and  he  must  needs  he  very  impa- 
tient, who  would  repine  at  death  in  the  society 
of  all  things  that  suffer  under  it.  Had  not 
almost  every  man  suffered  by  the  press,  or  were 
not  the  tyranny  thereof  become  universal,  I  had 
not  wanted  reason  for  complaint :  but  in  times 
wherein  I  have  lived  to  behold  the  highest  per- 
version of  that  excellent  invention,  the  name  of 
his  Majesty  defamed,  the  honour  of  Parliament 
depraved,  the  writings  of  both  depravedly,  an- 
ticipatively,  counterfeitly  imprinted  ;  complaints 
may  seem  ridiculous  in  private  persons  ;  and 
men  of  my  condition  may  be  as  incapable  of 
affronts,  as  hopeless  of  their  reparations.     And 


4  TO   THE  READER. 

truly  had  not  the  duty  I  owe  unto  the  importu- 
nity of  friends,  and  the  allegiance  I  must  ever 
acknowledge  unto  truth,  prevailed  with  me  ;  the 
inactivity  of  my  disposition  might  have  made 
these  sufferings  continual,  and  time,  that  brings 
other  things  to  light,  should  have  satisfied  me  in 
the  remedy  of  its  oblivion.  But  because  things 
evidently  false  are  not  only  printed,  but  many 
things  of  truth  most  falsely  set  forth ;  in  this 
latter  I  could  not  but  think  myself  engaged :  for 
though  we  have  no  power  to  redress  the  former, 
yet  in  the  other  the  reparation  being  within  our- 
selves, I  have  at  present  re-presented  unto  the 
world  a  full  and  intended  copy  of  that  piece, 
which  was  most  imperfectly  and  surreptitiously 
published  before. 

This  I  confess,  about  seven  years  past,  with 
some  others  of  affinity  thereto,  for  my  private 
exercise  and  satisfaction,  I  had  at  leisurable 
hours  composed ;  which  being  communicated 
unto  one,  it  became  common  unto  many,  and 
was  by  transcription  successively  corrupted,  until 
it  arrived  in  a  most  depraved  copy  at  the  press. 
He  that  shall  peruse  that  work,  and  shall  take 
notice  of  sundry  particularities  and  personal 
expressions  therein,  will  easily  discern  the  inten- 
tion was  not  publick :  and  being  a  private  exer- 


TO    THE  READER.  5 

cise  directed  to  myself,  what  is  delivered  therein 
was  rather  a  memorial  unto  me  than  an  example 
or  rule  unto  any  other :  and  therefore,  if  there 
be  any  singularity  therein  correspondent  unto 
the  private  conceptions  of  any  man,  it  doth  not 
advantage  them ;  or  if  dissentaneous  thereunto, 
it  no  way  overthrows  them.  It  was  penned  in 
such  a  place,  and  with  such  disadvantage,  that 
(I  protest)  from  the  first  setting  of  pen  unto 
paper,  I  had  not  the  assistance  of  any  good  book, 
whereby  to  promote  my  invention,  or  relieve  my 
memory ;  and  therefore  there  might  be  many  real 
lapses  therein,  which  others  might  take  notice 
of,  and  more  that  I  suspected  myself.  It  was 
set  down  many  years  past,  and  was  the  sense  of 
my  conceptions  at  that  time,  not  an  immutable 
law  unto  my  advancing  judgment  at  all  times  ; 
and  therefore  there  might  be  many  things  there- 
in plausible  unto  my  passed  apprehension,  which 
are  not  agreeable  unto  my  present  self.  There- 
fore are  many  things  delivered  rhetorically,  many 
expressions  therein  merely  tropical,  and  as  they 
best  illustrate  my  intention  ;  and!  therefore  also 
there  are  many  things  to  be  taken  in  a  soft  and 
flexible  sense,  and  not  to  be  called  unto  the  rigid 
test  of  reason.  Lastly,  all  that  is  contained 
therein  is  in  submission  unto  maturer  discern- 


6  TO   THE  READER. 

ments  ;  and  as  I  have  declared,  shall  no  further 
father  them  than  the  best  and  learned  judgments 
shall  authorize  them :  under  favour  of  which 
considerations,  I  have  made  its  secrecy  publick, 
and  committed  the  truth  thereof  to  every  ingen- 
uous Reader. 


THOMAS  BROWNE. 


Religio  Medici. 


;  OR  my  religion,  though  there  be  sev-  Our  Phy- 
eral  circumstances  that  might  per-  christian 
suade  the  world  I  have  none  at  all, 
as  the  general  scandal  of  my  pro- 
fession, the  natural  course  of  my  studies,  the 
indifferency  of  my  behaviour  and  discourse 
in  matters  of  religion,  neither  violently  de- 
fending one,  nor  with  that  common  ardour  and 
contention  opposing  another ;  yet  in  despite 
hereof  I  dare,  without  usurpation,  assume  the 
honourable  style  of  a  Christian.  Not  that  I 
merely  owe  this  title  to  the  font,  my  educa- 
tion, or  clime  wherein  I  was  born,  as  being 
bred  up  either  to  confirm  those  principles  my 
parents  instilled  into  my  unwary  understand- 
ing, or  by  a  general  consent  to  proceed  in 
the  religion  of  my  country;  but  having,  in 
my  riper  years  and  confirmed  judgment,  seen 


8  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

and  examined  all,*  I  find  myself  obliged  by  the 
principles  of  grace,  and  the  law  of  mine  own 
reason,  to  embrace  no  other  name  but  this  : 
neither  doth  herein  my  zeal  so  far  make  me 
forget  the  general  charity  I  owe  unto  humanity, 
as  rather  to  hate  than  pity  Turks,  infidels,  and 
(what  is  worse)  Jews  ;  rather  contenting  my- 
self to  enjoy  that  happy  style,  than  maligning 
those  who  refuse  so  glorious  a  title. 

Quousque  patiere,  bone  Jesu ! 

Judaei  te  semel,  ego  ssepius  crucifixi; 
Illi  in  Asia,  ego  in  Britannia, 

Gallia,  Germania; 
Bone  Jesu,  miserere  mei,  et  Judaeorum ! 

His  belief  jj  gut  because  the  name  of  a  Christian  is 
become  too  general  to  express  our  faith,  there 
being  a  geography  of  religion  as  well  as  lands, 
and  every  clime  being  distinguished  not  only 
by  their  laws  and  limits,  but  circumscribed  by 
their  doctrines  and  rules  of  faith  ;  to  be  par- 
ticular, I  am  of  that  reformed  new-cast  religion, 
wherein  I  dislike  nothing  but  the  name ;  of  the 
same  belief  our  Saviour  taught,  the  apostles 
disseminated,  the  fathers  authorized,  and  the 
martyrs  confirmed ;  but  by  the  sinister  ends  of 
princes,  the  ambition  and  avarice  of  prelates, 
and  the  fatal  corruption  of  times,  so  decayed, 

*  According  to  the  Apostolical  precept,  "Prove  all  things: 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good."     1  Thess.  v.  21. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  9 

impaired,  and  fallen  from  its  native  beauty,  that 
it  required  the  careful  and  charitable  hands  of 
these  times  to  restore  it  to  its  primitive  integ- 
rity. Now  the  accidental  occasion  whereon,  the 
slender  means  whereby,  the  low  and  abject  con- 
dition of  the  person  by  whom  so  good  a  work 
was  set  on  foot,  which  in  our  adversaries  begets 
contempt  and  scorn,  fills  me  with  wonder,  and 
is  the  very  same  objection  the  insolent  Pagans 
first  cast  at  Christ  and  his  disciples. 

III.  Yet  have  I  not  so  shaken  hands  with  Differences 
those  desperate  resolutions,  (who  had  rather  nee°dP™tn 
venture  at  large  their  decayed  bottom,  than  separate 
bring  her  in  to  be  new  trimmed  in  the  dock ; 
who  had  rather  promiscuously  retain  all,  than 
abridge  any,  and  obstinately  be  what  they  are, 
than  what  they  have  been,)  as  to  stand  in  di- 
ameter and  sword's  point  with  them :  we  have 
reformed  from  them,  not  against  them ;  for  omit- 
ting those  improperations,  and  terms  of  scurrility 
betwixt  us,  which  only  difference  our  affections, 
and  not  our  cause,  there  is  between  us  one  com- 
mon name  and  appellation,  one  faith  and  neces- 
sary body  of  principles  common  to  us  both ;  and 
therefore  I  am  not  scrupulous  to  converse  and 
live  with  them,  to  enter  their  churches  in  de- 
fect of  ours,  and  either  pray  with  them,  or  for 
them.  I  could  never  perceive  any  rational 
consequence  from  those  many  texts  which  pro- 


10  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

liibit  the  children  of  Israel  to  pollute  themselves 
with  the  temples  of  the  heathens ;  we  being  all 
Christians,  and  not  divided  by  such  detested 
impieties  as  might  profane  our  prayers,  or  the 
place  wherein  we  make  them ;  or  that  a  resolved 
conscience  may  not  adore  her  Creator  anywhere, 
especially  in  places  devoted  to  his  service  ; 
where,  if  their  devotions  offend  him,  mine  may 
please  him ;  if  theirs  profane  it,  mine  may  hal- 
low it.  -  \  Holy- water  and  crucifix  (dangerous  to 
the  common  people)  deceive  not  my  judgment, 
nor  abuse  my  devotion  at  all :  I  am,  I  confess, 
naturally  inclined  to  that  which  misguided  zeal 
terms  superstition.  My  common  conversation  I 
do  acknowledge  austere,  my  behaviour  full  of 
rigour,  sometimes  not  without  morosity ;  yet  at 
my  devotion  I  love  to  use  the  civility  of  my 
knee,  my  hat,  and  hand,  with  all  those  outward 
and  sensible  motions  which  may  express  or  pro- 
mote my  invisible  devotion.  I  should  violate 
my  own  arm  rather  than  a  church ;  nor  willing- 
ly deface  the  memory  of  saint  or  martyr.  At 
the  sight  of  a  cross  or  crucifix  I  can  dispense 
with  my  hat,  but  scarce  with  the  thought  or 
memory  of  my  Saviour.  I  cannot  laugh  at, 
but  rather  pity,  the  fruitless  journeys  of  pil- 
grims, nor  contemn  the  miserable  condition  of 
friars  ;  for  though  misplaced  in  circumstances, 
there  is  something  in  it  of  devotion.     I  could 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  11 

never  hear  the  Ave  Mary  bell  *  without  an  ele- 
vation ;  or  think  it  a  sufficient  warrant,  because 
they  erred  in  one  circumstance,  for  me  to  err 
in  all,  that  is,  in  silence  and  dumb  contempt: 
whilst  therefore  they  directed  their  devotions 
to  her,  I  offered  mine  to  God,  and  rectified  the 
errors  of  their  prayers,  by  rightly  ordering  mine 
own.  At  a  solemn  procession  I  have  wept  abun- 
dantly, while  my  consorts, .blind  with  opposition 
and  prejudice,  have  fallen  into  an  access  of  scorn 
and  laughter.  There  are,  questionless,  both  in 
Greek,  Roman,  and  African  churches,  solemni- 
ties and  ceremonies,  whereof  the  wiser  zeals  do 
make  a  Christian  use,  and  stand  condemned  by 
us,  not  as  evil  in  themselves,  but  as  allurements 
and  baits  of  superstition  to  those  vulgar  heads 
that  look  asquint  on  the  face  of  truth,  and  those 
unstable  judgments  that  cannot  consist  in  the 
narrow  point  and  centre  of  virtue  without  a  reel 
or  staler  to  the  circumference.  + 

Do  ' 

IV.  As  there  were  many  reformers,,  so  like-  of  Refor- 
wise  there  were  many  reformations ;  every  coun-  ma  101 

*  A  church  bell  that  tolls  every  day  at  six  and  twelve  of  the 
clock ;  at  the  hearing  whereof,  every  one  in  what  place  soever, 
either  of  house  or  street,  betakes  himself  to  his  prayer,  which  is 
commonly  directed  to  the  Virgin. 

t  This  figure  is  probably  borrowed  from  Aristotle.  Eth.  Nic. 
ii.  9.  "  Wherefore  it  is  hard  to  be  good :  for  in  each  action  to 
find  the  mean  is  difficult,  as  it  is  not  every  one  that  can  find  the 
centre  of  a  circle,  but  he  that  is  skilled  to  do  so." 


12  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

try  proceeding  in  a  particular  way  and  method, 
according  as  their  national  interest,  together 
with  their  constitution  and  clime,  inclined  them ; 
some  angrily,  and  with  extremity ;  others  calmly, 
and  with  mediocrity;  not  rending,  but  easily 
dividing  the  community,  and  leaving  an  hon- 
est possibility  of  a  reconciliation ;  which  though 
peaceable  spirits  do  desire,  and  may  conceive 
that  revolution  of  time  and  the  mercies  of  God 
may  effect,  yet  that  judgment  that  shall  consider 
the  present  antipathies  between  the  two  ex- 
tremes, their  contrarieties  in  condition,  affection, 
and  opinion,  may  with  the  same  hopes  expect 
an  union  in  the  poles  of  heaven. 
Of  the  V.  But  to  difference  myself  nearer,  and  draw 

into  a  lesser  circle :  there  is  no  church,  whose 
every  part  so  squares  unto  my  conscience  ;  whose 
articles,  constitutions,  and  customs  seem  so  con- 
sonant unto  reason,  and  as  it  were  framed  to 
my  particular  devotion,  as  this  whereof  I  hold 
my  belief,  the  Church  of  England,  to  whose 
faith  I  am  a  sworn  subject ;  and  therefore  in  a 
double  obligation  subscribe  unto  her  Articles, 
and  endeavour  to  observe  her  constitutions: 
whatsoever  is  beyond,  as  points  indifferent,  I 
observe  according  to  the  rules  of  my  private 
reason,  or  the  humour  and  fashion  of  my  devo- 
tion ;  neither  believing  this,  because  Luther 
affirmed  it,  nor  disapproving  that,  because  Cal- 


Church  of 
England. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  13 

vm  hath  disavouched  it.  I  condemn  not  all 
things  in  the  council  of  Trent,  nor  approve 
all  in  the  synod  of  Dort.  In  brief,  where  the 
Scripture  is  silent,  the  Church  is  my  text; 
where  that  speaks,  't  is  but  my  comment :  where 
there  is  a  joint  silence  of  both,  I  borrow  not  the 
rules  of  my  religion  from  Rome  or  Geneva,  but 
the  dictates  of  my  own  reason.  It  is  an  unjust 
scandal  of  our  adversaries,  and  a  gross  error  in 
ourselves,  to  compute  the  nativity  of  our  relig- 
ion from  Henry  the  Eighth,  who,  though  he 
rejected  the  Pope,  refused  not  the  faith  of 
Rome,  and  effected  no  more  than  what  his  own 
predecessors  desired  and  assayed  in  ages  past, 
and  was  conceived  the  state  of  Venice  would 
have  attempted  in  our  days.  It  is  as  unchari- 
table a  point  in  us  to  fall  upon  those  popular 
scurrilities  and  opprobrious  scoffs  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  to  whom,  as  a  temporal  prince,  we 
owe  the  duty  of  good  language.  I  confess  there 
is  cause  of  passion  between  us :  by  his  sentence 
I  stand  excommunicated,  heretic  is  the  best 
language  he  affords  me  ;  yet  can  no  ear  witness 
I  ever  returned  him  the  name  Antichrist,  man 
of  sin,  or  whore  of  Babylon.  It  is  the  method 
of  charity  to  suffer  without  reaction :  those  usual 
satires  and  invectives  of  the  pulpit  may  per- 
chance produce  a  good  effect  on  the  vulgar, 
whose  ears  are  opener  to  rhetoric  than  logic; 


14  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

yet  do  they  in  no  wise  confirm  the  faith  of  wiser 
believers,  who  know  that  a  good  cause  needs 
not  to  be  patron'd  by  passion,  but  can  sustain 
itself  upon  a  temperate  dispute. 

VI.  I  could  never  divide  myself  from  any 
man  upon  the  difference  of  an  opinion,  or  be 
angry  with  his  judgment  for  not  agreeing  with 
me  in  that,  from  which  within  a  few  days  I 
should  dissent  myself.  I  have  no  genius  to 
Disputes  in  disputes  in  religion,  and  have  often  thought  it 
wisely1  wisdom  to  decline  them,  especially  upon  a  dis- 
avoided.  advantage,  or  when  the  cause  of  truth  might 
suffer  in  the  weakness  of  my  patronage.  Where 
we  desire  to  be  informed,  'tis  good  to  contest 
with  men  above  ourselves ;  but  to  confirm  and 
establish  our  opinions,  'tis  best  to  argue  with  I 
judgments  below  our  own,  that  the  frequent  f 
spoils  and  victories  over  their  reasons  may  settle  \ 
in  ourselves  an  esteem  and  confirmed  opinion  ofy 
our  own.  Every  man  is  not  a  proper  champion 
for  truth,  nor  fit  to  take  up  the  gauntlet  in  the 
cause  of  verity :  many  from  the  ignorance  of 
these  maxims,  and  an  inconsiderate  zeal  for 
truth,  have  too  rashly  charged  the  troops  of 
error,  and  remain  as  trophies  unto  the  enemies 
of  truth.  A  man  may  be  in  as  just  possession 
of  truth  as  of  a  city,  and  yet  be  forced  to 
surrender ;  't  is  therefore  far  better  to  enjoy  her 
with  peace,  than  to  hazard  her  on  a  battle :  if 


RELIGIO  MEDICI,  //tj  jj  j  y  y^ 


l,  till  my 


therefore  there  rise  any  doubts  inv 

do  forget  them,  or  at  least  defer 

better  settled  judgment  and  more  manly  reason 

be  able  to  resolve  them ;  for  I  perceive  every 

man's  own  reason  is  his  best  GEdipus,  and  will, 

upon  a  reasonable  truce,  find  a  way  to  loose 

those  bonds  wherewith  the  subtleties   of  error 

have  enchained  our  more   flexible  and  tender 

judgments.     In  philosophy,  where  truth  seems 

double-faced,  there  is  no  man  more  paradoxical 

than  myself:  but  in  divinity  I  love  to  keep  the  Fantasies 

road ;  and,  though  not  in  an  implicit,  yet  an  ^^rous 

humble    faith,   follow   the    great  wheel   of  the  as  giving 

Church,  by  which  I  move,  not  reserving  any  to  errors. 

proper  poles  or  motion  from  the  epicycle  of  my 

own  brain ;  by  these  means  I  leave  no  gap  for 

heresy,  schisms,  or  errors,  of  which  at  present  I  whereof 

hope  I  shall  not  injure  truth  to  say  I  have  no  Xn  co/" 

taint  or  tincture.     I  must  confess  my  greener  fesseth  to 

.  ,  haye  had 

studies  have  been  polluted  with  two  or  three,  two  «• 

not  any  begotten  in  the  latter  centuries,  but  old  three' 

and  obsolete,  such  as  could  never  have  been 

revived,  but  by  such  extravagant  and  irregular 

heads  as  mine ;  for  indeed  heresies  perish  not 

with  their  authors,  but  like  the  river  Arethusa,* 

*  Arethusa,  a  nymph  of  Achaia,  while  bathing,  on  her  return 
from  hunting  in  the  Stymphalian  wood,  was  surprised  by  the 
river  god  Alpheus,  in  whose  waters  she  was  disporting  herself. 
She  fled  from  him,  and  after  a  long  chase  was  concealed  in  a 
cloud  by  Diana,  just  as  her  strength  was  failing.     She  thus  re- 


16  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

though  they  lose  their  currents  in  one  place, 
they  rise  up  again  in  another.  One  general 
council  is  not  able  to  extirpate  one  single  her- 
esy: it  may  be  cancelled  for  the  present;  but 
revolution  of  time  and  the  like  aspects  from 
heaven,  will  restore  it,  when  it  will  flourish  till 
it  be  condemned  again.  For  as  though  there 
was  metempsychosis,  and  the  soul  of  one  man 
passed  into  another,  opinions  do  find,  after  cer- 
tain revolutions,  men  and  minds  like  those  that 
first  begat  them.  To  see  ourselves  again,  we 
need  not  look  for  Plato's  year :  *  every  man  is 
not  only  himself;  there  hath  been  many  Di- 
ogenes, and  as  many  Timons,  though  but  few  of 
that  name :  men  are  lived  over  again,  the  world 
is  now  as  it  was  in  ages  past;  there  was  none 
then,  but  there  hath  been  some  one  since  that 
parallels  him,  and  as  it  were  his  revived  self. 
1st,  That       yii.    Now  the  first  of  mine  was  that  of  the 

the  soul       A-i.  _li  i  in  •   i       i        •  i 

might,  in  Arabians,")"  that  the  souls  of  men  perished  with 

lates  (Ovid.  Metam.  v.  574)  her  transformation  into  the  stream 
which  bears  her  name,  and  with  which  the  waters  of  Alpheus 
vainly  sought  to  unite,  Diana  opening  a  way  for  her  under 
ground  and  bringing  her  out  again  in  Ortygia,  near  Syracuse 
in  Sicily. 

*  A  revolution  of  certain  thousand  years,  when  all  things 
should  return  unto  their  former  estate,  and  he  be  teaching  again 
in  his  school  as  when  he  delivered  this  opinion. 

f  "  It  was  not  only  in  the  point  now  mentioned,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Gospel  suffered,  at  this  time,  from  the  erroneous 
fancies  of  wrong-headed  doctors.  For  there  sprung  up  now,  in 
Arabia,  a  certain  sort  of  minute  philosophers,  the  disciples  of  a 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  17 

their  bodies,  but  should  yet  be  raised  again  at  some  sort, 
the  last  day.     Not  that  I  did  absolutely  con-  JJ™^ 
ceive  a  mortality  of  the  soul ;  but  if  that  were,  with  the 
which  faith,  not  philosophy,  hath  yet  thoroughly 
disproved,   and    that    both   entered   the   grave 
together,  yet  I  held  the  same  conceit  thereof, 
that  we  all  do  for  the  body,  that  it  should  rise 
again.     Surely  it  is  but  the  merits  of  our  un- 
worthy natures,  if  we  sleep  in  darkness  until       > 
the   last   alarum.     A  serious   reflex   upon   my  /      y 
own  un worthiness  did  make  me  backward  from      y^ 
challenging  this  prerogative  of  my  soul:  so  I 
might  enjoy  my  Saviour  at  the   last,  I  could 
with  patience  be  nothing  almost  unto  eternity. 
The  second  was  that  of  Origen,  that  God  would  2d,  That 
not  persist  in  his  vengeance  forever,  but  after  shou]d 
a  definite  time  of  his  wrath,  he  would  release  finallybe 

saved. 

the  damned  souls  from  torture :  which  error 
I  fell  into  upon  a  serious  contemplation  of  the 
great  attribute  of  God,  his  Mercy;  and  did  a 


master  whose  obscurity  has  concealed  him  from  the  knowl- 
edge of  after  ages,  who  denied  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
believed  that  it  perished  with  the  body :  but  maintained,  at  the 
same  time,  that  it  was  to  be  recalled  to  life  with  the  body,  by 
the  power  of  God.  The  philosophers  who  held  this  opinion 
were  called  Arabians,  from  their  country.  Origen  was  called 
from  Egypt,  to  make  head  against  this  rising  sect;  and  disputed 
against  them  in  full  council,  with  such  remarkable  success, 
that  they  abandoned  their  erroneous  sentiments,  and  returned 
to  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Church."  Mosheim,  Eccl.  Hist, 
vol.  i.  ch.  5,  \  16,  p.  307. 
2 


18  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

little  cherish  it  in  myself,  because  I  found  there- 
in no  malice,  and  a  ready  weight  to  sway  me 
from  the  other  extreme  of  despair,  whereunto 
melancholy  and  contemplative  natures  are  too 
3d,  That  easily  disposed.     A  third  there  is  which  I  did 
pmyfor    never  positively  maintain  or  practise,  but  have 
the  dead,  often  wished  it  had  been   consonant  to  truth, 
and  not  offensive  to  my  religion,  and  that  is  the 
prayer  for  the  dead ;  whereunto  I  was  inclined 
from  some  charitable  inducements,  whereby  I 
could  scarce  contain  my  prayers  for  a  friend  at 
the  ringing  of  a  bell,  or  behold  his  corpse  with- 
out an  orison  for  his  soul :  't  was  a  good  way, 
v   methought,  to  be  remembered  by  posterity,  and 
But  these    far  more  noble  than  a  history.     These  opinions 
notTogrw  I  never  maintained  with  pertinacy,  or  endeav- 
into  here-    oured  to  inveigle  any  man's  belief  unto  mine, 
nor  so  much  as  ever  revealed  or  disputed  them 
with  my  dearest   friends ;   by  which   means  I 
neither   propagated   them   in  others,  nor  con- 
firmed them  in  myself;  but  suffering  them  to 
flame  upon   their  own  substance,  without  ad- 
dition of  new  fuel,  they  went  out  insensibly  of 
themselves :    therefore   these    opinions,    though 
condemned  by  lawful  councils,  were  not  here- 
sies in  me,  but  bare  errors,  and  single  lapses  of 
my  understanding  without  a  joint  depravity  of 
my  will.     Those  have  not  only  depraved  un- 
derstandings, but  diseased  affections,  who  can- 


sies. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  19 

not  enjoy  a  singularity  without  an  heresy,  or 
be  the  author  of  an  opinion  without  they  be  of 
a  sect  also:  this  was  the  villany  of  the  first 
schism  of  Lucifer,  who  was  not  content  to  err 
alone,  but  drew  into  his  faction  many  legions 
of  spirits  ;  and  upon  this  experience  he  tempted 
only  Eve,  as  well  understanding  the  commu- 
nicable nature  of  sin,  and  that  to  deceive  but 
one,  was  tacitly  and  upon  consequence  to  de- 
lude them  both. 

VIII.   That   heresies  should  arise,  we  have  oftheman- 
tlie  prophecy  of  Christ ;  but  that  old  ones  should  ^  ^ 
be  abolished,  we  hold  no  prediction.    That  there  schism, 
must  be  heresies,  is  true,  not  only  in  our  church,  tiplying  " 
but  also  in  any  other :  even  in  doctrines  hereti-  itself- 
cal,  there  will  be  super-heresies ;   and  Arians 
not  only  divided  from  their  church,  but  also 
among  themselves :  for  heads  that  are  disposed 
unto    schism   and    complexionably  propense  to 
innovation,  are  naturally  indisposed  for  a  com- 
munity ;   nor  will  be   ever  confined   unto  the 
order  or  economy  of  one  body ;  and  therefore 
when  they  separate  from  others,  they  knit  but 
loosely  among  themselves ;  nor  contented  with 
a  general  breach  or  dichotomy  with  their  church, 
do  subdivide  and  mince  themselves  almost  into 
atoms.     'Tis  true,  that  men  of  singular  parts 
and  humours  have  not  been  free  from  singular 
opinions   and    conceits   in   all    ages ;    retaining 


20  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

something  not  only  beside  the  opinion  of  their 
own  church  or  any  other,  but  also  of  any  par- 
ticular author;  which  notwithstanding  a  sober 
judgment  may  do  without  offence  or  heresy ;  for 
there  is  yet,  after  all  the  decrees  of  councils, 
and  the  niceties  of  schools,  many  things  un- 
touched, unimagined,  wherein  the  liberty  of  an 
honest  reason  may  play  and  expatiate  with  secu- 
rity, and  far  without  the  circle  of  an  heresy. 
Mysteries  IX.*  As  for  those  wingy  mysteries  in  divin- 
oniyTcTbe7  ity,  and  airy  subtleties  in  religion,  which  have 
approached  unhinged  the  brains  of  better  heads,  they  never 
stretched  the  pia  mater  of  mine  :  methinks  there 
be  not  impossibilities  enough  in  religion  for  an 
•  active  faith ;  the  deepest  mysteries  ours  con- 
tains, have  not  only  been  illustrated,  but  main- 
tained by  syllogism,  and  the  rule  of  reason. 
I  love  to  lose  myself  in  a  mystery,  to  pursue 
my  reason  to  an  0  altitudo !  'Tis  my  solitary 
recreation  to  pose  my  apprehension  with  those 
involved  enigmas  and  riddles  of  the  Trinity, 
with  Incarnation  and  Resurrection.  I  can  an- 
swer all  the  objections  of  Satan  and  my  rebel- 
lious reason,  with  that  odd  resolution  I  learned 
of  Tertullian,  Certum  est  quia  impossibile  est 
I  desire  to  exercise  my  faith  in  the  difficultest 
point ;  for  to  credit  ordinary  and  visible  objects, 

*  See  Aids  to  Keflection,  p.  151. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  21 

is  not  faith,  but  persuasion.  Some  believe  the 
better  for  seeing  Christ's  sepulchre ;  and  when 
they  have  seen  the  Red  Sea,  doubt  not  of  the 
miracle.  Now  contrarily,  I  bless  myself,  and 
am  thankful  that  I  live  not  in  the  days  of  mir- 
acles, that  I  never  saw  Christ  nor  his  disciples : 
I  would  not  have  been  one  of  those  Israelites 
that  passed  the  Red  Sea,  nor  one  of  Christ's 
patients  on  whom  he  wrought  his  wonders ;  Blessed  are 
then  had  my  faith  been  thrust  upon  me ;  nor  ^  ^ 
should  I  enjoy  that  greater  blessing  pronounced  seen  and 
to  all  that  believe  and  saw  not.  'Tis  an  easy  Relieved, 
and  necessary  belief,  to  credit  what  our  eye  and 
sense  hath  examined :  *  I  believe  he  was  dead 
and  buried,  and  rose  again ;  and  desire  to  see 
him  hi  his  glory,  rather  than  to  contemplate 
him  in  his  cenotaph  or  sepulchre.  Nor  is  this 
much  to  believe ;  as  we  have  reason,  we  owe 
tins  faith  unto  history :  they  only  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  bold  and  noble  faith,  who  lived 
before  his  coming,  who  upon  obscure  prophecies 
and  mystical  types  could  raise  a  belief,  and 
expect  apparent  impossibilities. 

X.  'Tis  true,  there  is  an  edge  in  all  firm  Thear- 
belief,  and  with  an  easy  metaphor  we  may  say  christian! 
the  sword  of  faith ;  f  but  in  these  obscurities  I 

*  "  God  forbede  but  that  men  should  believ 

Well  more  thing  than  thei  han  seen  with  eye." 

Chaucer. 
t  Eph.  vi.  16. 


22  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

rather  use  it  in  the  adjunct  the  apostle  gives  it, 
a  buckler ;  under  which  I  conceive  a  wary  com- 
batant may  lie  invulnerable.  Since  I  was  of 
understanding  to  know  we  knew  nothing,  my 
reason  hath  been  more  pliable  to  the  will  of 
faith ;  I  am  now  content  to  understand  a  mys- 
tery without  a  rigid  definition,  in  an  easy  and 
Platonic  description.  That  allegorical  descrip- 
tion *  of  Hermes  pleaseth  me  beyond  all  the 
metaphysical  definitions  of  divines ;  where  I 
cannot  satisfy  my  reason,  I  love  to  humour  my 
fancy :  I  had  as  lieve  you  tell  me  that  anima  est 
angelus  hominis,  est  corpus  Dei,  as  ei/TeXe%eta ; 
Lux  est  umbra  Dei,  as  actus  perspicui.\  Where 
there  is  an  obscurity  too  deep  for  our  reason, 
'tis  good  to  sit  down  with  a  description,  peri- 

*  Sphcera  cujus  centrum  ubique,  circumferentia  nullibi. 

f  Great  variety  of  opinion  there  hath  been  amongst  the  an- 
cient philosophers  touching  the  definition  of  the  soul.  Thales's 
was,  that  it  is  a  nature  without  repose.  Asclepiades,  that  it  is  an 
exercitation  of  sense :  Hesiod,  that  it  is  a  thing  composed  of  earth 
and  water:  Parmenides  holds,  of  earth  and  f  re;  Galen,  that  it  is 
heat;  Hippocrates,  that  it  is  a  spirit  diffused  through  the  body: 
some  others  have  held  it  to  be  light;  Plato  saith,  'tis  a  substance 
moving  itself;  after  cometh  Aristotle  (whom  the  author  here  re- 
proveth)  and  goeth  a  degree  farther,  and  saith  it  is  cWeXe^eia, 
that  is,  that  which  naturally  makes  the  body  to  move.  But  this 
definition  is  as  rigid  as  any  of  the  other;  for  this  tells  us  not  what 
the  essence,  origin,  or  nature  of  the  soul  is,  but  only  marks  an 
effect  of  it,  and  therefore  signifieth  no  more  than  if  he  had  said, 
that  it  is  angelus  hominis,  or  an  intelligence  that  moveth  man, 
as  he  supposed  those  other  to  do  the  heavens.  K.  Cf.  Cic. 
Tusc.  Disp.  i.  x. 


r~ 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  23 

phrasis,  or  adumbration ;  for  by  acquainting  our 
reason  how  unable  it  is  to  display  the  visible  and 
obvious  effects  of  nature,  it  becomes  more  hum- 
ble and  submissive  unto  the  subtleties  of  faith ; 
and  thus  I  teach  my  haggard  and  unreclaimed 
reason  to  stoop  unto  the  lure  of  faith.  I  believe 
there  was  already  a  tree  whose  fruit  our  unhap- 
py parents  tasted ;  though  in  the  same  chapter, 
when  God  forbids  it,  'tis  positively  said  the 
plants  of  the  fields  were  not  yet  grown,  for  God 
had  not  caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth.  I 
believe  that  the  serpent,  (if  we  shall  literally 
understand  it,)  from  his  proper  form  and  figure, 
made  his  motion  on  his  belly  before  the  curse. 
I  find  the  trial  of  the  pucellage  and  virginity  of 
women,  which  God  ordained  the  Jews,  is  very 
fallible.  Experience  and  history  inform  me, 
that  not  only  many  particular  women,  but  like- 
wise whole  nations,  have  escaped  the  curse  of 
childbirth,  which  God  seems  to  pronounce  upon 
the  whole  sex ;  yet  do  I  believe  that  all  this  is 
true,  which  indeed  my  reason  would  persuade 
me  to  be  false  ^  and  this  I  think  is  no  vulgar 
part  of  faith,  to  believe  a  thing  not  only  above, 
but  contrary  to  reason,  and  against  the  argu- 
ments of  our  proper  senses. 

XI.  In  my  solitary  and  retired  imagination,  TheEter 

nity  of 

Neque  enim  cum  lectulus  aut  me  God' 

Porticus  excepit,  desum  mihi  — 


24  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

I  remember  I  am  not  alone,  and  therefore  forget 
not  to  contemplate  him  and  his  attributes  who  is 
ever  with  me,  especially  those  two  mighty  ones, 
his  wisdom  and  eternity :  with  the  one  I  recre- 
ate, with  the  other  I  confound  my  understand- 
ing; for  who  can  speak  of  eternity  without  a 
solecism,  or  think  thereof  without  an  ecstasy? 
Time  we  may  comprehend,  it  is  but  five  days 
older  than  ourselves,  and  hath  the  same  horo- 
scope with  the  world ;  but  to  retire  so  far  back 
as  to  apprehend  a  beginning,  to  give  such  an 
infinite  start  forward  as  to  conceive  an  end  in 
an  essence  that  we  affirm  hath  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other,  it  puts  my  reason  to  St.  Paul's 
sanctuary :  my  philosophy  dares  not  say  the 
angels  can  do  it ;  God  hath  not  made  a  creature 
that  can  comprehend  him ;  it  is  a  privilege  of 
his  own  nature :  I  am  that  I  am,  was  his  own 
definition  unto  Moses ;  and  it  was  a  short  one, 
to  confound  mortality,  that  durst  question  God, 
or  ask  him  what  he  was.  Indeed  he  only  is  ;  all 
others  have  and  shall  be  ;  but  in  eternity  there 
is  no  distinction  of  tenses  ;  and  therefore  that 
terrible  term  predestination,  which  hath  troubled 
so  many  weak  heads  to  conceive,  and  the  wisest 
to  explain,  is  in  respect  to  God  no  prescious  de- 
termination of  our  states  to  come,  but  a  defini- 
tive blast  of  his  will  already  fulfilled,  and  at  the 
instant  that  he  first  decreed  it ;  for  to  his  cter- 


LIB/?* 

nity,  which  is  indivisible,  and  all  together,,  the 
last  trump  is  already  sounded,  the  reprobates  in 
the  flame,  and  the  blessed  in  Abraham's  bosom. 
St.  Peter  speaks  modestly,  when  he  saith,*  a 
thousand  years  to  God  are  but  as  one  day ;  for 
to  speak  like  a  philosopher,  those  continued 
instances  of  time  which  flow  into  a  thousand 
years,  make  not  to  him  one  moment :  what  to 
us  is  to  come,  to  his  eternity  is  present,  his 
whole  duration  being  but  one  permanent  point, 
without  succession,  parts,  flux,  or  division. 

XII.  There  is  no  attribute  that  adds  more  of  the 
difficulty  to  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  where,  Tnmty# 
though  in  a  relative  way  of  Father  and  Son,  we 
must  deny  a  priority.  I  wonder  how  Aristotle 
could  conceive  the  world  eternal,  or  how  he 
could  make  good  two  eternities  :  his  similitude 
of  a  triangle,  comprehended  in  a  square,  doth 
somewhat  illustrate  the  trinity  of  our  souls,  and 
that  the  triple  unity  of  God  ;  for  there  is  in  us 
not  three,  but  a  trinity  of  souls,  because  there  is 
in  us,  if  not  three  distinct  souls,  yet  differing 
faculties,  that  can  and  do  subsist  apart  in  differ- 
ent subjects,  and  yet  in  us  are  so  united  as  to 
make  but  one  soul  and  substance :  if  one  soul 
were  so  perfect  as  to  inform  three  distinct  bod- 
ies, that  were  a  petty  trinity :  conceive  the  dis- 
tinct number  of  three,  not  divided  nor  separated 

*  2  Pet.  iii.  8. 


26  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

by  the  intellect,  but  actually  comprehended  in 
its  unity,  and  that  is  a  perfect  trinity.  I  have 
often  admired  the  mystical  way  of  Pythagoras, 
and  the  secret  magic  of  numbers.  u  Beware  of 
philosophy,"  is  a  precept  not  to  be  received  in 
too  large  a  sense :  for  in  this  mass  of  nature 
there  is  a  set  of  things  that  carry  in  their  front, 
though  not  in  capital  letters,  yet  in  stenography 
and  short  characters,  something  of  divinity, 
which  to  wiser  reasons  serve  as  luminaries  in 
the  abyss  of  knowledge,  and  to  judicious  beliefs 
as  scales  and  roundles  to  mount  the  pinnacles 
and  highest  pieces  of  divinity.  The  severe 
schools  shall  never  laugh  me  out  of  the  phi- 
The  visible  losophy  of  Hermes,  that  this  visible  world  is 
picture  Dut  a  picture  of  tne  invisible,  wherein  as  in  a 
of  the        portrait  things  are  not  truly,  but  in  equivocal 

invisible.  ,  ,  n  .  .. 

shapes,  and  as  they  counterfeit  some  more  real 
substance  in  that  invisible  fabric. 
The  wis-         XIII.  That  other  attribute  wherewith  I  rec- 

dom  of 

God.  reate  my  devotion,  is  his  Wisdom,  in  which  I 

am  happy ;  and  for  the  contemplation  of  this 
only,  do  not  repent  me  that  I  was  bred  in  the 
way  of  study:  the  advantage.  Uiave  of  the  vul- 
gar, with  the  content  and  happiness  I  conceive 
therein,  is  an  ample  recompense  for  all  my  en- 
deavours, in  what  part  of  knowledge  soever. 
Wisdom  is  his  most  beauteous  attribute ;  no 
man  can  attain  unto  it,  yet   Solomon  pleased 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  27 

God  when  he  desired  it.  He  is  wise,  because  he 
knows  all  things ;  and  he  knoweth  all  things, 
because  he  made  them  all:  but  his  greatest 
knowledge  is  in  comprehending  that  he  made 
not,  that  is,  himself.  And  this  is  also  the  great- 
est knowledge  in  man :  for  this  I  do  honour  my 
own  profession,  and  embrace  the  counsel  jeven 
of  the  devil  himself :  had  he  read  such  a  lecture 
in  Paradise  as  he  did  at  Delphos,*  we  had  bet- 
ter known  ourselves,  nor  had  we  stood  in  fear 
to  know  him.  I  know  He  is  wise  in  all,  won- 
derful in  what  we  conceive,  but  far  more  in 
what  we  comprehend  not;  for  we  behold  him 
but  asquint,  upon  reflex  or  shadow ;  our  under- 
standing is  dimmer  than  Moses'  eye  ;  we  are 
ignorant  of  the  back  parts  or  lower  side  of  his 
divinity ;  therefore  to  pry  into  the  maze  of  his 
counsels,  is  not  only  folly  in  man,  but  presump- 
tion even  in  angels :  like  us,  they  are  his  ser- 
vants, not  his  senators  ;  he  holds  no  council,  but 
that  mystical  one  of  the  Trinity,  wherein  though 
there  be  three  persons,  there  is  but  one  mind 
that  decrees  without  contradiction:  nor  needs 
he  any ;  his  actions  are  not  begot  with  delibera- 
tion, his  wisdom  naturally  knows  what  is  best ; 
his  intellect  stands  ready  fraught  with  the  super- 
lative and  purest  ideas  of  goodness  ;  consultation 
and  election,  which  are  two  motions  in  us,  make 

*  TvcoOi  o-eavTov,  Nosce  te  ipsum. 


28  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

but  one  in  him;  his  actions  springing  from  his 
power,  at  the  first  touch  of  his  will.  These  are 
contemplations  metaphysical :  my  humble  spec- 
ulations have  another  method,  and  are  content 
to  trace  and  discover  those  expressions  he  hath 
left  in  his  creatures,  and  the  obvious  effects  of 
No  danger  nature  :  there  is  no  danger  to  profound  these 
ing  to  trace  mvsteries5  no  sanctum  sanctorum  in  philosophy, 
the  hand  of  The  world  was  made  to  be  inhabited  by  beasts, 
works.  but  studied  and  contemplated  by  man  :  *  't  is  the 
debt  of  our  reason  we  owe  unto  God,  and  the 
homage  we  pay  for  not  being  beasts :  without 
this,  the  world  is  still  as  though  it  had  not  been, 
or  as  it  was  before  the  sixth  day,  when  as  yet 
there  was  not  a  creature  that  could  conceive  or 
say  there  was  a  world.  The  wisdom  of  God 
receives  small  honour  from  those  vulgar  heads 
that  rudely  stare  about,  and  with  a  gross  rustici- 
ty admire  his  works  :  those  highly  magnify  him, 
whose  judicious  inquiry  into  his  acts,  and  delib- 
erate research  into  his  creatures,  return  the  duty 
of  a  devout  and  learned  admiration.     Therefore, 

Search  while  thou  wilt,  and  let  thy  reason  go 
To  ransom  truth,  even  to  th'  abyss  below ; 
]J:illy  the  scattered  causes;  and  that  line 
Which  nature  twists,  be  able  to  untwine. 


*  In  the  MS.  (in  the  British  Museum)  this  clause  stands  thus: 
"  The  world  was  made  not  so  much  to  be  inhabited  by  men,  as 
to  be  contemplated,  studied,  aud  known,  by  man." 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  29 

It  is  thy  Maker's  will,  for  unto  none 

But  unto  reason  can  he  e'er  be  known. 

The  devils  do  know  thee,  but  those  damn'd  meteors 

Build  not  thy  glory,  but  confound  thy  creatures. 

Teach  my  endeavours  so  thy  works  to  read, 

That  learning  them  in  thee  I  may  proceed. 

Give  thou  my  reason  that  instructive  flight, 

Whose  weary  wings  may  on  thy  hands  still  light. 

Teach  me  to  soar  aloft,  yet  ever  so, 

When  near  the  sun,  to  stoop  again  below. 

Thus  shall  my  humble  feathers  safely  hover, 

And  though  near  earth,  more  than  the  heavens  discover.  "^ 

And  then  at  last,  when  homeward  I  shall  drive 

Rich  with  the  spoils  of  nature  to  my  hive, 

There  will  I  sit  like  that  industrious  fly, 

Buzzing  thy  praises,  which  shall  never  die, 

Till  death  abrupts  them,  and  succeeding  glory 

Bid  me  go  on  in  a  more  lasting  story. 

And  this  is  almost  all  wherein  an  humble 
creature  may  endeavour  to  requite,  and  some 
way  to  retribute  unto  his  Creator :  for  if  not  he 
that  saith,  "  Lord,  Lord,  but  he  that  doth  the  st.  Matt. 
will  of  his  Father,"  shall  be  saved ;  certainly  vu" 21' 
our  wills  must  be  our  performances,  and  our 
intents  make  out  our  actions ;  otherwise  our 
pious  labours  shall  find  anxiety  in  our  graves, 
and  our  best  endeavours  not  hope,  but  fear  a 
resurrection. 

XIV.  There  is  but  one  first  cause,  and  four  Every  crea- 
second  causes  of  all  things  :    some  are  without  j^  to*00 
efficient,  as  God ;  others  without  matter,  as  an-  proper  end. 
gels  ;  some  without  form,   as  the  first  matter : 
but  every  essence  created  or  uncreated  hath  its 


30  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

final  cause,  and  some  positive  end  both  of  its 
essence  and  operation :  *  this  is  the  cause  I  grope 
after  in  the  works  of  nature  ;  on  this  hangs  the 
providence  of  God:  to  raise  so  beauteous  a 
structure,  as  the  world  and  the  creatures  thereof, 
was  but  his  art ;  but  their  sundry  and  divided 
operations,  with  their  predestinated  ends,  are 
from  the  treasury  of  his  wisdom.  In  the  causes, 
nature,  and  affections  of  the  eclipses  of  the  sun 
and  moon,  there  is  most  excellent  speculation; 
but  to  profound  farther,  and  to  contemplate  a 
reason  why  his  providence  hath  so  disposed  and 
ordered  their  motions  in  that  vast  circle,  as  to 
conjoin  and  obscure  each  other,  is  a  sweeter 
piece  of  reason,  and  a  diviner  point  of  philoso- 
phy ;  therefore  sometimes,  and  in  some  things, 
there  appears  to  me  as  much  divinity  in  Galen 
his  books  Be  usu  partium,  as  in  Suarez  his 
Metaphysics :  had  Aristotle  been  as  curious  in 
the  enquiry  of  this  cause  as  he  was  of  the  other, 
he  had  not  left  behind  him  an  imperfect  piece  of 
philosophy,  but  an  absolute  tract  of  divinity. 
Nature  do-  XV.  Notura  nihil  agit  frustra,  is  the  only 
indisputable  axiom  in  philosophy ;  there  are  no 
grotesques  in  nature ;  not  any  thing  framed  to 


*  "  Eterne  God,  that  thurgh  thy  purveance 
Ledest  this  world  by  certain  governance, 
In  idel,  as  men  sain,  ye  nothing  make." 

Chaucer,  Frankeleine's  Tale,  11176. 


eth  nothing 
in  vain 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  31 

fill  up  empty  cantons,  and  unnecessary  spaces  : 
in  the  most  imperfect  creatures,  and  such  as 
were  not  preserved  in  the  ark,  but,  having  their 
seeds  and  principles  in  the  womb  of  nature,  are 
everywhere,  where  the  power  of  the  sun  is ;  * 
in  these  is  the  wisdom  of  his  hand  discovered : 
out  of  this  rank  Solomon  chose  the  object  of  his  Prov.  vi. 
admiration ;  indeed,  what  reason  may  not  go  to  j^s^ 
school  to  the  wisdom  of  bees,  ants,  and  spiders  ? 
what  wise  hand  teacheth  them  to  do  what  rea- 
son cannot  teach  us  ?  Ruder  heads  stand  amazed 
at  those  prodigious  pieces  of  nature,  whales,  ele- 
phants, dromedaries,  and  camels  ;  these,  I  con- 
fess, are  the  colossi  and  majestic  pieces  of  her 
hand :  but  in  these  narrow  engines  there  is 
more  curious  mathematics  ;  and  the  civility  of 
these  little  citizens  more  neatly  sets  forth  the 
wisdom  of  their  Maker.  Who  admires  not 
Regio-Montanus  his  fly  beyond  his  eagle,  or 
wonders  not  more  at  the  operation  of  two  souls 
in  those  little  bodies,  than  but  one  in  the  trunk 
of  a  cedar  ?  f     I  could  never  content  my  con- 

*  "  Miraculous  may  seem  to  him  that  reades 
So  strange  ensample  of  conception ; 
But  reason  teacheth  that  the  fruitful  seedes 

Of  all  things  living,  thro'  impression 
Of  the  sun-beames  in  moyst  complexion 
Doe  life  conceive,  and  quick'ned  are  by  kynd." 

Faerie  Queene. 
f  See  Wordsworth's  exquisite  little  poem  entitled  "  Nutting," 
and  Landor's  Fsesulan  Idyl:  — 


32  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

templation  with  those  general  pieces  of  wonder, 
the  flux  and  reflux  of  the  sea,  the  increase  of 
the  Nile,  the  conversion  of  the  needle  to  the 
north ;  and  have  studied  to  match  and  parallel 
those  in  the  more  obvious  and  neglected  pieces 
of  nature,  which  without  further  travel  I  can  do 
in  the  cosmography  of  myself:  we  carry  with 
us  the  wonders  we  seek  without  us  :  there  is  all 
Africa  and  her  prodigies  in  us  ;  we  are  that  bold 
and  adventurous  piece  of  nature,  which  he  that 
studies  wisely  learns  in  a  compendium,  what 
others  labour  at  in  a  divided  piece  and  endless 
volume. 
Nature  a  XVI.  Thus  there  are  two  books  from  whence 
toaii.°Pen  I  collect  my  divinity  ;  besides  that  written  one 
of  God,  another  of  his  servant  nature,  that  uni- 
versal and  public  manuscript,  that  lies  expansed 
unto  the  eyes  of  all :  those  that  never  saw  him 
in  the  one,  have  discovered  him  in  the  other. 
This  was  the  Scripture  and  Theology  of  the 
heathens :  the  natural  motion  of  the  sun  made 
them  more  admire  him  than  its  supernatural 

"  And  'tis  and  ever  was  my  wish  and  way 
To  let  all  flowers  live  freely,  and  all  die, 
Whene'er  their  Genius  bids  their  souls  depart, 
Among  their  kindred  in  their  native  place. 
I  never  pluck  the  rose ;  the  violet's  head 
Hath  shaken  with  my  breath  upon  its  bank, 
And  not  reproached  me ;  the  ever  sacred  cup 
Of  the  pure  lily  hath  between  my  hands 
Felt  safe,  unsoiled,  nor  lost  one  grain  of  gold." 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  33 

station  did  the  children  of  Israel ;  the  ordinary  Josh.  x.  12, 
effect  of  nature  wrought  more  admiration  in 
them,  than  in  the  other  all  his  miracles  :  surely 
the  heathens  knew  better  how  to  join  and  read 
these  mystical  letters  than  we  Christians,  who 
cast  a  more  careless  eye  on  these  common  hiero- 
glyphics, and  disdain  to  suck  divinity  from  the 
flowers  of  nature.  Nor  do  I  so  forget  God  as  to 
adore  the  name  of  nature ;  which  I  define  not, 
with  the  schools,  to  be  the  principle  of  motion 
and  rest,  but  that  straight  and  regular  line,  that 
settled  and  constant  course  the  wisdom  of  God 
hath  ordained  the  actions  of  his  creatures,  ac- 
cording to  their  several  kinds.  To  make  a 
revolution  every  day,  is  the  nature  of  the  sun, 
because  of  that  necessary  course  which  God 
hath  ordained  it,  from  which  it  cannot  swerve 
but  by  a  faculty  from  that  voice  which  first  did 
give  it  motion.*  Now  this  course  of  nature 
God  seldom  alters  or  perverts,  but,  like  an  ex- 
cellent artist,  hath  so  contrived  his  work,  that 
with  the   selfsame  instrument,  without  a  new 

*  See  Wordsworth's  Ode  to  Duty:  — 

"  Thou  dost  preserve  the  stars  from  wrong; 
And  the  most  ancient  heavens  thro'  thee  are  fresh  and  strong." 

Cf.  Cowper's  Task,  bk.  vi :  — 

"  Some  say  that  in  the  origin  of  things, 
When  all  creation  started  into  birth, 
The  infant  elements  received  a  law 
3 


34  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

creation,  he  may  effect  his  obscurest  designs. 
Ex.  xv.  25.  Thus  he  sweeteneth  the  water  with  a  wood, 
xxxviii.5.  preserveth  the  creatures  in  the  ark,  which  the 
blast  of  his  mouth  might  have  as  easily  created ; 
for  God  is  like  a  skilful  geometrician,  who  when 
more  easily,  and  with  one  stroke  of  his  compass, 
he  might  describe  or  divide  a  right  line,  had  yet 
rather  do  this  in  a  circle  or  longer  way,  accord- 
ing to  the  constituted  and  forelaid  principles  of 
his  art :  yet  this  rule  of  his  he  doth  sometimes 
pervert,  to  acquaint  the  world  with  his  preroga- 
tive, lest  the  arrogancy  of  our  reason  should 
question  his  power,  and  conclude  he  could  not. 
And  thus  I  call  the  effects  of  nature  the  works 
of  God,  whose  hand  and  instrument  she  only  is  ; 
and  therefore  to  ascribe  his  actions  unto  her,  is 
to  devolve  the  honour  of  the  principal  agent 
upon  the  instrument ;  which  if  with  reason  we 
may  do,  then  let  our  hammers  rise  up  and  boast 
they  have  built  our  houses,  and  our  pens  receive 
the  honour  of  our  writing.  I  hold  there  is  a 
general  beauty  in  the  works  of  God,  and  there- 

From  which  they  swerve  not  since.    That  under  force 
Of  that  controlling  ordinance  they  move, 
And  need  not  his  immediate  hand  who  first 
Prescribed  their  course,  to  regulate  it  now. 

The  Lord  of  all,  himself  through  all  diffused, 
Sustains  and  is  the  life  of  all  that  lives. 
Nature  is  but  a  name  for  an  effect, 
Whose  cause  is  God." 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  35 

fore  no  deformity  in  any  kind  of  species  whatso-  Eccius. 
ever :  I  cannot  tell  by  what  logic  we  call  a  toad,  ™2 
a  bear,  or  an  elephant  ugly,  they  being  created  Wisd- xv- 
in  those  outward  shapes  and  figures  which  best 
express   those   actions   of   their   inward   forms. 
And  having   passed  that  general  visitation  of 
God,  who  saw  that  all  that  he  had  made  was 
good,  that   is,  conformable   to   his  will,  which  Gen.  i.  31. 
abhors  deformity,  and  is  the  rule  of  order  and 
beauty ;  there  is  no  deformity  but  in  monstros- 
ity, wherein  notwithstanding  there  is  a  kind  of 
beauty,  nature  so  ingeniously  contriving  the  ir- 
regular parts,  that  they  become  sometimes  more 
remarkable  than  the  principal  fabric.     To  speak 
yet  more  narrowly,  there  was  never  any  thing 
ugly  or  misshapen,  but  the  chaos  ;  wherein,  not- 
withstanding,   to   speak   strictly,  there  was  no 
deformity,  because  no  form,  nor  was  it  yet  im- 
pregnate by  the  voice  of  God ;  now  nature  is 
not  at  variance  with  art,  nor  art  with  nature, 
they  being  both  servants  of  his  providence :  art 
is  the  perfection  of  nature :  were  the  world  now  «  Nature 
as  it  was  the  sixth  day,  there  were  yet  a  chaos ;  ^ereb 
nature  hath  made  one  world,  and  art  another.  God  doth 
In  brief,  all  things  are  artificial ;  for  nature  is  ^J™, 
the  art  of  God. 

XVII.  This  is  the  ordinary  and  open  way  of  Providence 
his  providence,  which  art  and  industry  have  in  ly  called 
a  good  part  discovered,  whose  effects  we  may  fortune. 


36  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

foretell  without  an  oracle :  to  foreshow  these,  is 
not  prophecy,  but  prognostication.  There  is 
another  way,  full  of  meanders  and  labyrinths, 
whereof  the  devil  and  spirits  have  no  exact 
Ephemerides,  and  that  is  a  more  particular  and 
obscure  method  of  his  providence,  directing  the 
operations  of  individuals  and  single  essences : 
this  we  call  fortune,  that  serpentine  and  crooked 
line,  whereby  he  draws  those  actions  his  wis- 
dom intends,  in  a  more  unknown  and  secret 
way.  This  cryptic  and  involved  method  of  his 
providence  have  I  ever  admired ;  nor  can  I 
relate  the  history  of  my  life,  the  occurrences 
of  my  days,  the  escapes  of  dangers,  and  hits  of 
chance,  with  a  Bezo  las  Manos  to  fortune,  or 

Gen.  xxii.  a  bare  gramercy  to  my  good  stars.  Abraham 
might  have  thought  the  ram  in  the  thicket  came 
thither  by  accident ;  human  reason  would  have 

Ex.  ii.  said,  that  mere  chance  conveyed  Moses  in  the 
ark  to  the  sight  of  Pharaoh's  daughter :  what  a 

Gen.       labyrinth  is  there  in  the  story  of  Joseph,  able  to 

xxxvn  convert  a  stoic !  Surely  there  are  in  every 
man's  life  certain  rubs,  doublings,  and  wrenches, 
which  pass  awhile  under  the  effects  of  chance, 
but  at  the  last,  well  examined,  prove  the  mere 
hand  of  God.  It  was  not  dumb  chance  that,  to 
discover  the  fougade  or  powder-plot,  contrived  a 
miscarriage  in  the  letter.  I  like  the  victory  of 
'88  the  better  for  that  one  occurrence,  which 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  37 

our  enemies  imputed  to  our  dishonour,  and  the 
partiality  of  fortune,  to  wit,  the  tempests  and 
contrariety  of  winds.  King  Philip  did  not  de- 
tract from  the  nation,  when  he  said  he  sent  his 
armado  to  fight  with  men,  and  not  to  combat 
with  the  winds.  Where  there  is  a  manifest  dis- 
proportion between  the  powers  and  forces  of 
two  several  agents,  upon  a  maxim  of  reason  we 
may  promise  the  victory  to  the  superior;  but 
when  unexpected  accidents  slip  in,  and  un- 
thought  of  occurrences  intervene,  these  must 
proceed  from  a  power  that  owes  no  obedience  to 
those  axioms ;  where,  as  in  the  writing  upon  the  Dan.  v.  5. 
wall,  we  may  behold  the  hand,  but  see  not  the 
spring  that  moves  it.  The  success  of  that  petty 
province  of  Holland  (of  which  the  Grand  Seign- 
ior proudly  said,  if  they  should  trouble  him  as 
they  did  the  Spaniard,  he  would  send  his  men 
with  shovels  and  pickaxes,  and  throw  it  into  the 
sea)  I  cannot  altogether  ascribe  to  the  ingenuity 
and  industry  of  the  people,  but  the  mercy  of 
God,  that  hath  disposed  them  to  such  a  thriving 
genius ;  and  to  the  will  of  his  providence,  that 
disposeth  her  favour  to  each  country  in  their 
preordinate  season.  All  cannot  be  happy  at 
once ;  for,  because  the  glory  of  one  state  de- 
pends upon  the  ruin  of  another,  there  is  a  revo- 
lution and  vicissitude  of  their  greatness ;  and 
they  must  obey  the  swing  of  that  wheel,  not 


38  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

moved   by   intelligences,  but  by  the  hand  of 
God,  whereby  all  estates  arise  to  their  zenith 
and  vertical  points,  according  to  their  predesti- 
nated periods.     For  the  lives,  not  only  of  men, 
but  of  commonwealths,  and  the  whole  world, 
run  not  upon  an  helix  that  still  enlargeth,  but 
on  a  circle,  where  arriving  to  their  meridian, 
they  decline  in  obscurity,  and  fall  under  the 
horizon  again.* 
The  term       XVIII.  These  must  not  therefore  be  named 
used  in  a  the  effects  of  fortune  but  in  a  relative  way,  and 
relative     as  we  term  the  works  of  nature :  it  was  the 

sense. 

ignorance  of  man's  reason  that  begat  this  very 
name,  and  by  a  careless  term  miscalled  the 
providence  of  God ;  for  there  is  no  liberty  for 
causes  to  operate  in  a  loose  and  straggling  way ; 
nor  any  effect  whatsoever,  but  hath  its  warrant 
from  some  universal  or  superior  cause.  It  is 
not  a  ridiculous  devotion  to  say  a  prayer  before 
a  game  at  tables;  for  even  in  sortilegies  and 
matters  of  greatest  uncertainty,  there  is  a  set- 
tled and  preordered  course  of  effects.!  It  is 
we  that  are  blind,  not  fortune :  because  our  eye 
is  too  dim  to  discover  the  mystery  of  her  effects, 

*  This  subject  is  discussed  in  an  Essay  by  the  Rev.  A.  P. 
Stanley,  to  which  one  of  the  Chancellor's  Prizes  was  awarded. 
Oxford,  1840. 

Cf.  Herod,  i.  207. 

t  "  The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap :  but  the  whole  disposing  there- 
of is  of  the  Lord."    Prov.  xvi.  33. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  39 

we  foolishly  paint  her  blind,  and  hoodwink  the 
providence  of  the  Almighty.*  I  cannot  justify 
that  contemptible  provorb,  That  fools  only  are 
fortunate,  or  that  insolent  paradox,  That  a  wise 
man  is  out  of  the  reach  of  fortune,  much  less 
those  opprobrious  epithets  of  poets,  Whore,  baud, 
and  strumpet.^  It  is,  I  confess,  the  common 
fate  of  men  of  singular  gifts  of  mind,  to  be  des- 
titute of  those  of  fortune,  which  doth  not  any 
way  deject  the  spirit  of  wiser  judgments,  who 
thoroughly  understand  the  justice  of  this  pro- 
ceeding ;  and  being  enriched  with  higher  dona- 
tives, cast  a  more  careless  eye  on  these  vulgar 
parts  of  felicity.  It  is  a  most  unjust  ambition 
to  desire  to  engross  the  mercies  of  the  Almighty, 
not  to  be  content  with  the  goods  of  mind,  with- 
out a  possession  of  those  of  body  or  fortune  ;  and 
it  is  an  error  worse  than  heresy,  to  adore  these 
complemental  and  circumstantial  pieces  of  felici- 
ty, and  undervalue  those  perfections  and  essen- 
tial points  of  happiness  wherein  we  resemble 
our  Maker.  To  wiser  desires  it  is  satisfaction 
enough  to  deserve,  though  not  to  enjoy  the 
favours  of  fortune :  let  providence  provide  for 
fools ;  it  is  not  partiality,  but  equity  in  God, 

*  Cf.  Bp.  Butler's  xvth  Sermon, 
f  So  Dryden :  — 

"  But  when  she  dances  on  the  wind, 
And  shakes  her  wings,  and  will  not  stay, 
I  puff  the  prostitute  away." 


40  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

who  deals  with  us  but  as  our  natural  parents : 
those  that  are  able  of  body  and  mind  he  leaves 
to  their  deserts ;  to  those  of  weaker  merits  he 
imparts  a  larger  portion,  and  pieces  out  the 
defect  of  one  by  the  excess  of  the  other.  Thus 
have  we  no  just  quarrel  with  nature  for  leaving 
us  naked;  or  to  envy  the  horns,  hoofs,  skins, 
and  furs  of  other  creatures,  being  provided  with 
reason,  that  can  supply  them  all.*  We  need 
not  labour  with  so  many  arguments  to  confute 
judicial  astrology ;  for  if  there  be  a  truth  there- 
in, it  doth  not  injure  divinity:  if  to  be  born 
under  Mercury  disposeth  us  to  be  witty,  under 
Jupiter  to  be  wealthy,  I  do  not  owe  a  knee 
unto  these,  but  unto  that  merciful  hand  that 
hath  ordered  my  indifferent  and  uncertain  na- 
tivity  unto   such   benevolous   aspects.      Those 

*  He  were  a  strange  fool  that  should  be  angry  because  dogs 
and  sheep  need  no  shoes,  and  yet  himself  is  full  of  care  to  get 
some:  God  hath  supplied  those  needs  to  them  by  natural  pro- 
visions, and  to  thee  by  an  artificial .  for  He  hath  given  thee  rea- 
son to  learn  a  trade,  or  some  means  to  make  or  buy  them,  so  that 
it  only  differs  in  the  manner  of  our  provision ;  and  which  had 
you  rather  want,  shoes  or  reason  ?  Taylor's  Holy  Living,  p.  99. 
So  Anacreon:  — 

cpvais  Kepara  ravpois 

onXas  5'  edeoKcv  Urnrots 

TrobcdKirjv  XaycuoTff, 

\eovcri  X"0"/1'  oboPT(ovt 

rois  IxOvviv  to  vrjKTov 

tols  opveois  ireTaaBai 

rois  dvbpd(riv  (ppovrjpM. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  41 

that  hold  that  all  things  are  governed  by  fortune, 
had  not  erred,  had  they  not  persisted  there. 
The  Romans  that  erected  a  temple  to  Fortune, 
acknowledged  therein,  though  in  a  blinder  way, 
somewhat  of  divinity;  for  in  a  wise  supputa- 
tion  all  things  begin  and  end  in  the  Almighty. 
There  is  a  nearer  way  to  heaven  than  Homer's 
chain ;  *  an  easy  logic  may  conjoin  heaven  and  /V* 
earth  in  one  argument,  and  with  less  than  a 
sorites  resolve  all  things  into  God.  For  though 
we  christen  effects  by  their  most  sensible  and 
nearest  causes,  yet  is  God  the  true  and  infal- 
lible cause  of  all,  whose  concourse,  though  it 
be  general,  yet  doth  it  subdivide  itself  into  the 
particular  actions  of  everything,  and  is  that 
spirit,  by  which  each  singular  essence  not  only 
subsists,  but  performs  its  operation. 

XIX.  The    bad    construction    and   perverse  Danger  of 

,1  n  i  confound- 

comment  on  these  pair  ot  second  causes,  or  ing  the 
visible  hands  of  God,  have  perverted  the  de-  Jirst  yith 
votion  of  many  unto  atheism,  who  forgetting 
the  honest  advisoes  of  faith,  have  listened  unto 
the  conspiracy  of  passion  and  reason.  I  have, 
therefore,  always  endeavoured  to  compose  those 
feuds  and  angry  dissensions  between  affection, 
faith,  and  reason ;  for  there  is  in  our  soul  a  kind 
of  triumvirate,  or  triple  government  of  three 
competitors,  which  distract  the  peace  of  this  our 

*  Iliad,  viii.  18. 


Second 
causes. 


42  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

commonwealth,  not  less  than  did  that  other  the 
state  of  Rome, 
passion.  As  reason  is  a  rebel  unto  faith,  so  passion 
Fafth.11  unto  reason  :  as  the  propositions  of  faith  seem 
absurd  unto  reason,  so  the  theorems  of  reason 
7  unto  passion,  and  both  unto  reason  ;  yet  a  mod- 
erate and  peaceable  discretion  may  so  state  and 
order  the  matter,  that  they  may  be  all  kings, 
and  yet  make  but  one  monarchy,  every  one 
exercising  his  sovereignty  and  prerogative  in 
a  due  time  and  place,  according  to  the  restraint 
and  limit  of  circumstance.  There  are,  as  in 
philosophy,  so  in  divinity,  sturdy  doubts  and 
boisterous  objections,  wherewith  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  our  knowledge  too  nearly  acquainteth  us. 
More  of  these  no  man  hath  known  than  myself, 
which  I  confess  I  conquered,  not  in  a  martial 
posture,  but  on  my  knees.  For  our  endeavours 
are  not  only  to  combat  with  doubts,  but  always 
to  dispute  with  the  devil:  the  villany  of  that 
spirit  takes  a  hint  of  infidelity  from  our  studies, 
and  by  demonstrating  a  naturality  in  one  way, 
makes  us  mistrust  a  miracle  in  another.  Thus 
having  perused  the  Archidoxes,  and  read  the 
secret  sympathies  of  things,  he  would  dissuade 
my  belief  from  the  miracle  of  the  brazen  ser- 
pent, make  me  conceit  that  image  worked  by 
sympathy,  and  was  but  an  Egyptian  trick  to 
cure  their  diseases  without  a  miracle.     Again, 


having  seen  some  experiments  of  bitumen,  and 
having  read  far  more  of  naphtha,  he  wmSj^&ii  * 
to  my  curiosity  the  fire  of  the  altar  might  be 
natural ;  and  bid  me  mistrust  a  miracle  in  Elias,  1  Kings, 
when  he  entrenched  the  altar  round  with  water ;  XT1U' 
for  that  inflammable  substance  yields  not  easily 
unto  water,  but  flames  in  the  arms  of  its  antag- 
onist.    And  thus  would  he  inveigle  my  belief 
to  think  the   combustion  of  Sodom  might   be  Gen.  xix. 

.  24. 

natural,  and  that  there  was  an  asphaltic  and 
bituminous  nature  in  that  lake  before  the  fire 
of  Gomorrah.  I  know  that  manna  is  now 
plentifully  gathered  in  Calabria ;  and  Josephus 
tells  me,  in  his  days  it  was  as  plentiful  in 
Arabia  ;  the  devil  therefore  made  the  query, 
Where  was  then  the  miracle  in  the  days  of  Ex.xvi. 
Moses?  The  Israelites  saw  but  that  in  his 
time,  which  the  natives  of  those  countries  be- 
hold in  ours.  Thus  the  devil  played  at  chess 
with  me,  and  yielding  a  pawn,  thought  to  gain 
a  queen  of  me,  taking  advantage  of  my  honest 
endeavours ;  and  whilst  I  laboured  to  raise  the 
structure  of  my  reason,  he  strived  to  undermine 
the  edifice  of  my  faith. 

XX.  Neither  had  these,  or  any  other,  ever  Atheism 
such  advantage  of  me,  as  to  incline  me  to  any  ^st  ar  y 
point  of  infidelity  or  desperate  positions  of  athe- 
ism ;  for  I  have  been  these  many  years  of  opin- 
ion  there   was   never   any.     Those   that   held 


U  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

religion  was  the  difference  of  man  from  beasts, 
have  spoken  probably,  and  proceed  upon  a 
principle  as  inductive  as  the  other.  That  doc- 
trine of  Epicurus,  that  denied  the  providence 
of  God,  was  no  atheism,  but  a  magnificent  and 
high-strained  conceit  of  his  majesty,  which  he 
deemed  too  sublime  to  mind  the  trivial  actions 
of  those  inferior  creatures.  That  fatal  necessi- 
ty of  the  stoics  is  nothing  but  the  immutable 
law  of  his  will.  Those  that  heretofore  denied 
the  divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  have  been  con- 
demned but  as  heretics ;  and  those  that  now 
deny  our  Saviour,  (though  more  than  heretics,) 
are  not  so  much  as  atheists  ;  for  though  they 
deny  two  persons  in  the  Trinity,  they  hold  as 
we  do,  there  is  but  one  God. 

That  villain  and  secretary  of  hell,  that  com- 
posed that  miscreant  piece  of  the  three  impos- 
tors, though  divided  from  all  religions,  and  was 
neither  Jew,  Turk,  nor  Christian,  was  not  a 
positive  atheist.  I  confess  every  country  hath 
its  Machiavel,  every  age  its  Lucian,  whereof 
common  heads  must  not  hear,  nor  more  ad- 
vanced judgments  too  rashly  venture  on :  it  is 
the  rhetoric  of  Satan,  and  may  pervert  a  loose 
or  prejudicate  belief, 
inconsist-  XXI.  I  confess  I  have  perused  them  all, 
and  can  discover  nothing  that  may  startle  a 
discreet  belief ;  yet  are  their  heads  carried  off 


ency  of 
unbelief. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  45 

with  the  wind  and  breath  of  such  motives.  I 
remember  a  Doctor  in  Physic  of  Italy,  who 
could  not  perfectly  believe  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  because  Galen  seemed  to  make  a  doubt 
thereof.  With  another  I  was  familiarly  ac- 
quainted in  France,  a  divine,  and  a  man  of 
singular  parts,  that  on  the  same  point  was  so 
plunged  and  gravelled  with  three  lines  of  Sen- 
eca, that  all  our  antidotes,  drawn  from  both 
Scripture  and  philosophy,  could  not  expel  the 
poison  of  his  error.  There  are  a  set  of  heads 
that  can  credit  the  relations  of  mariners,  yet 
question  the  testimonies  of  St.  Paul;  and  per- 
emptorily maintain  the  traditions  of  iElian  or 
Pliny,  yet  in  histories  of  Scripture  raise  queries 
and  objections,  believing  no  more  than  they 
can  parallel  in  human  authors.  I  confess  there 
are  in  Scripture  stories  that  do  exceed  the  fables^" 
of  poets,  and  to  a  captious  reader  sound  like 
Garagantua  or  Beviss  search  all  the  legends 
of  times  past,  and  the  fabulous  conceits  of  these 
present,  and  it  will  be  hard  to  find  one  that 
deserves  to  carry  the  buckler  unto  Samson; 
yet  is  all  this  of  an  easy  possibility,  if  we  con- 
ceive a  divine  concourse,  or  an  influence  but 
from  the  little  finger  of  the  Almighty.  It  is  Manyques- 
impossible  that  either  in  the  discourse  of  man,  ™^^[ 
or  in  the  infallible  voice  of  God,  to  the  weak-  not  worthy 

P  -,  .-.  iii.    of  solution. 

ness   oi    our   apprehensions,   there    should   not 


46  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

appear  irregularities,  contradictions,  and  an- 
tinomies :  myself  could  show  a  catalogue  of 
doubts,  never  yet  imagined  or  questioned,  as 
I  know,  which  are  not  resolved  at  the  first 
hearing;  not  fantastic  queries  or  objections  of 
air,  for  I  cannot  hear  of  atoms  in  divinity.* 
I  can  read  the  history  of  the  pigeon  that  was 
sent  out  of  the  ark  and  returned  no  more,  yet 
not  question  how  she  found  out  her  mate  that 
was  left  behind :  that  Lazarus  was  raised  from 
the  dead,  yet  not  demand  where  in  the  interim 
his  soul  awaited ;  or  raise  a  law-case,  whether 
his  heir  might  lawfully  detain  his  inheritance 
bequeathed  unto  him  by  his  death,  and  he, 
though  restored  to  life,  have  no  plea  or  title 
unto  his  former  possessions.  Whether  Eve  was 
framed  out  of  the  left  side  of  Adam,  I  dispute 
not,  because  I  stand  not  yet  assured  which  is 
the  right  side  of  a  man,  or  whether  there  be 
any  such  distinction  in  nature  :  that  she  was 
edified  out  of  the  rib  of  Adam  I  believe,  yet 
raise  no  question  who  shall  arise  with  that  rib 
at  the  resurrection :  whether  Adam  was  an 
hermaphrodite,  as  the  Rabbins  contend  upon 
the  letter  of  the  text,  because  it  is  contrary  to 

*  "  He  who  believes  the  Scripture  to  have  proceeded  from  him 
who  is  the  Author  of  Nature,  may  well  expect  to  find  the  same 
sort  of  difficulties  in  it  as  are  found  in  the  Constitution  of  Na- 
ture."    Origen,  quoted  by  Butler  in  Introduct.  to  Anal. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  47 

reason  that  there  should  be  an  hermaphrodite 
before  there  was  a  woman,  or  a  composition 
of  two  natures  before  there  was  a  second  com- 
posed. Likewise,  whether  the  world  was  created 
in  autumn,  summer,  or  spring,  because  it  was 
created  in  them  all ;  for  whatsoever  sign  the 
sun  possesseth,  those  four  seasons  are  actually 
existent.  It  is  the  nature  of  this  luminary  to 
distinguish  the  several  seasons  of  the  year,  all 
which  it  makes  at  one  time  in  the  whole  earth, 
and  successive  in  any  part  thereof.  There  are 
a  bundle  of  curiosities,  not  only  in  philosophy, 
but  in  divinity,  proposed  and  discussed  by  men 
of  most  supposed  abilities,  which  indeed  are 
not  worthy  our  vacant  hours,  much  less  our 
serious  studies  :  pieces  only  fit  to  be  placed  in 
Pantagruel's  library,  or  bound  up  with  Tarta- 
retus  de  modo  eacandi. 

XXII.  These  are  niceties  that  become  not  And  others 
those  that  peruse  so  serious  a  mystery.     There  *^°h  are 
are  others  more  generally  questioned  and  called  raised,  may 
to  the  bar,  yet  methinks  of  an  easy  and  possible  Jived!7 
truth. 

It  is  ridiculous  to  put  off  or  drown  the  gen- 
eral flood  of  Noah,  in  that  particular  inundation 
of  Deucalion :  that  there  was  a  deluge  once, 
seems  not  to  me  so  great  a  miracle,  as  that 
there  is  not  one  always.  How  all  the  kinds  of 
creatures,  not  only  in  their  own  bulks,  but  with 


48  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

a  competency  of  food  and  sustenance,  might  be 
preserved  in  one  ark,  and  within  the  extent 
of  three  hundred  cubits,  to  a  reason  that  rightly 
examines  it,  will  appear  very  feasible.  There  is 
another  secret  not  contained  in  the  Scripture, 
which  is  more  hard  to  comprehend,  and  put 
the  honest  Father  to  the  refuge  of  a  miracle  ;  * 
and  that  is,  not  only  how  the  distinct  pieces  of 
the  world,  and  divided  islands,  should  be  first 
planted  by  men,  but  inhabited  by  tigers,  pan- 
thers, and  bears.  How  America  abounded  with 
beasts  of  prey  and  noxious  animals,  yet  con- 
tained not  in  it  that  necessary  creature,  a  horse, 
is  very  strange.  By  what  passage  those  ani- 
mals, not  only  birds,  but  dangerous  and  unwel- 
come beasts,  came  over;  how  there  be  creatures 
there  which  are  not  found  in  this  triple  conti- 
nent ;  all  which  must  needs  be  strange  unto  us, 
that  hold  but  one  ark,  and  that  the  creatures 
began  their  progress  from  the  mountains  of 
Ararat.  They  who  to  salve  this  would  make 
the  deluge  particular,  proceed  upon  a  principle 
that  I  can  no  way  grant;  not  only  upon  the 
negative  of  Holy  Scriptures,  but  of  mine  own 
reason,  whereby  I  can  make  it  probable  that 


*  St.  Augustine  (De  Civ.  Dei,  xvi.  7)  says  that  this  might 
have  been  miraculously  effected,  but  he  does  not  say  it  could 
not  have  been  done  without  a  miracle.  See  Burnet's  Sacred 
Theory  of  the  Earth,  lib.  ii.  c.  8. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  49 

the  world  was  as  well  peopled  in  the  time  of 
Noah  as  in  ours ;  and  fifteen  hundred  years  to 
people  the  world,  as  full  a  time  for  them,  as 
four  thousand  years  since  have  been  to  us. 
There  are  other  assertions  and  common  tenets 
drawn  from  Scripture,  and  generally  believed  as 
Scripture,  whereunto,  notwithstanding,  I  would 
never  betray  the  liberty  of  my  reason.  'T  is  a 
postulate  to  me  that  Methusalem  was  the  long-  Gen.  v.  5. 
est  lived  of  all  the  children  of  Adam ;  and  no 
man  will  be  able  to  prove  it,  when  from  the 
process  of  the  text  I  can  manifest  it  may  be 
otherwise.*  That  Judas  perished  by  hanging 
himself,  there  is  no  certainty  in  Scripture; 
though  in  one  place  it  seems  to  affirm  it,  and  s.  Matt. 
by  a  doubtful  word  hath  given  occasion  to  trans- 
late it ;  yet  in  another  place,  in  a  more  punctual  Acts,  i.  is 
description,  it  makes  it  improbable,  and  seems 
to  overthrow  it.  That  our  fathers,  after  the 
flood,  erected  the  tower  of  Babel,  to  preserve 
themselves  against  a  second  deluge,  is  generally 
opinioned  and  believed;  yet  is  there  another 
intention  of  theirs  expressed  in  Scripture :  be-  Gen.  xi.  4. 
sides,  it  is  improbable  from  the  circumstance  of 
the  place,  that  is,  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar : 
these  are  no  points  of  faith,  and  therefore  may 

*  His  meaning  is,  that  as  Adam  was  created  a  man  in  the 
prime  of  life,  we  may  add  forty  years  to  the  term  of  his  actual 
existence. 

4 


50  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

admit  a  free  dispute.  There  are  yet  others, 
and  those  familiarly  concluded  from  the  text, 
wherein  (under  favour)  I  see  no  consequence. 
The  Church  of  Rome  confidently  proves  the 
opinion  of  tutelary  angels,  from  that  answer 
Acts,  x«.  when  Peter  knocked  at  the  door,  It  is  not  he, 
but  his  angel;  that  is,  might  some  say,  his  mes- 
senger, or  somebody  from  him ;  for  so  the  origi- 
nal signifies,  and  is  as  likely  to  be  the  doubtful 
family's  meaning.  This  exposition  I  once  sug- 
gested to  a  young  divine,  that  answered  upon 
this  point ;  to  which  I  remember  the  Francis- 
can opponent  replied  no  more,  but,  that  it  was 
a  new,  and  no  authentic  interpretation. 
The  Bible  XXIII.  These  are  but  the  conclusions  and 
books!8  fallible  discourses  of  man  upon  the  word  of 
God,  for  such  I  do  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures ; 
yet  were  it  of  man,  I  could  not  choose  but 
say,  it  was  the  singularest  and  superlative  piece 
that  hath  been  extant  since  the  creation.  Were 
I  a  pagan  I  should  not  refrain  the  lecture  of 
it ;  and  cannot  but  commend  the  judgment  of 
Ptolemy,*  that  thought  not  his  library  complete 

*  When  Ptolemy  Philadelphia,  king  of  Egypt,  founded  the 
library  at  Alexandria,  he  placed  it  under  the  care  of  Demetrius 
Phalereus,  an  Athenian,  who  persuaded  his  royal  master  to  add 
to  it  the  books  of  the  Jewish  law.  The  king  wrote  to  Eleazar, 
then  high-priest,  for  them ;  who  not  only  sent  him  the  books,  but 
with  them  seventy-two  interpreters,  skilled  in  both  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  tongues,  to  translate  them  for  him  into  Greek.  Their 
labours  produced  the  version  called  the  Septuagint. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  51 

without  it.  The  Alcoran  of  the  Turks  (I 
speak  without  prejudice)  is  an  ill-composed 
piece,  containing  in  it  vain  and  ridiculous  errors 
in  philosophy,  impossibilities,  fictions,  and  vani- 
ties beyond  laughter  ;  maintained  by  evident 
and  open  sophisms,  the  policy  of  ignorance, 
deposition  of  universities,  and  banishment  of 
learning:  this  hath  gotten  foot  by  arms  and 
violence  :  that  without  a  blow  hath  disseminated 
itself  through  the  whole  earth.  It  is  not  un- 
remarkable what  Philo  first  observed,  that  the 
law  of  Moses  continued  two  thousand  years 
without  the  least  alteration ;  whereas,  we  see 
the  laws  of  other  commonweals  do  alter  with 
occasions;  and  even  those  that  pretended  their 
original  from  some  divinity,  to  have  vanished 
without  trace  or  memory.  I  believe,  besides 
Zoroaster,  there  were  divers  that  writ  before 
Moses,  who  notwithstanding  have  suffered  the 
common  fate  of  time.  Men's  works  have  an 
age  like  themselves ;  and  though  they  outlive 
their  authors,  yet  have  they  a  stint  and  period 
to  their  duration ;  this  only  is  a  work  too  hard 
for  the  teeth  of  time,  and  cannot  perish  but  in 
the  general  flames,  when  all  things  shall  confess 
their  ashes. 

XXIV.  I  have  heard  some  with  deep  sighs  "Ofmak- 
lament  the  lost  lines  of  Cicero ;  others  with  as  J^^ere 
many   groans    deplore    the    combustion    of  the  is  no  end," 


52  REL1GI0  MEDICI. 

Ecci.  xii.  library  of  Alexandria ;  *  for  my  own  part,  I 
think  there  be  too  many  in  the  world,  and 
could  with  patience  behold  the  urn  and  ashes 
of  the  Vatican,  could   I,   with  a   few  others, 

1  Kings  iv.  recover  the  perished  leaves  of  Solomon.  I 
would  not  omit  a  copy  of  Enoch's  Pillars  had 
they  many  nearer  authors  than  Josephus,f  or 
did  not  relish  somewhat  of  the  fable.  Some 
men  have  written  more  than  others  have  spo- 
ken :  Pineda  quotes  more  authors  in  one  work, 
than,  are  necessary  in  a  whole  world. J  Of 
those  three  great  inventions  in  Germany,  there 
are  two  which  are  not  without  their  incom- 
modities.§     It  is  not  a  melancholy  utinam  of  my 

*  See  D'Israeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature. 

f  For  this,  the  story  is,  that  Enoch,  or  his  father  Seth,  having 
heen  informed  by  Adam,  that  the  world  was  to  perish  once  by 
water,  and  a  second  time  by  fire,  did  cause  two  pillars  to  be  erect- 
ed; the  one  of  stone  against  the  water,  and  another  of  brick 
against  the  fire, ;  and  that  upon  those  pillars  was  engraven  all  such 
learning  as  had  been  delivered  to,  or  invented  by  mankind ;  and 
that  thence  it  came  that  all  knowledge  and  learning  was  not  lost 
by  means  of  the  flood,  by  reason  that  one  of  the  pillars  (though 
the  other  perished)  did  remain  after  the  flood:  and  Josephus 
witnesseth,  till  his  time,  lib.  i.  Antiq.  Judaic,  cap.  3.  K.  This, 
though  a  tale,  is  truly  moralized  in  the  universities :  Cambridge 
(of  brick)  and  Oxford  (of  stone)  wherein  learning  and  religion 
are  preserved,  and  where  the  worst  college  is  more  sightworthy 
than  the  best  Dutch  gymnasium.     Fuller's  Holy  State,  xliv. 

%  Pineda,  in  his  Monarchia  Ecclesiastica,  quotes  one  thousand 
and  forty  authors. 

§  In  all  probability  he  means  printing,  gunpowder,  and  the 
mariner's  compass,  or  perhaps  clocks:  but  it  seems  doubtful 
whether  all  these  were  not  known  to  the  Chinese  before  the  gen- 
erally received  date  of  their  invention. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  53 

own,  but  the  desires  of  better  heads,  that  there 
were  a  general  synod ; .  not  to  unite  the  incom- 
patible difference  of  religion,  but  for  the  benefit 
of  learning,  to  reduce  it  as  it  lay  at  first,  in  a 
few  and  solid  authors;  and  to  condemn  to  the 
fire  those  swarms  and  millions  of  rhapsodies 
begotten  only  to  distract  and  abuse  the  weaker 
judgments  of  scholars,  and  to  maintain  the  trade 
and  mystery  of  typographers. 

XXV.  I  cannot  but  wonder  with  what  ex-  obstinacy 
ceptions  the  Samaritans  could  confine  their  be-  oftheJews 
lief  to  the  Pentateuch,  or  five  books  of  Moses. 
I  am  ashamed  at  the  rabbinical  interpretation 
of  the  Jews,  upon  the  Old  Testament,  as  much 
as  their  defection  from  the  New :  and  truly  it 
is  beyond  wonder,  how  that  contemptible  and 
degenerate  issue  of  Jacob,  once  so  devoted  to 
ethnic  superstition,  and  so  easily  seduced  to  the 
idolatry  of  their  neighbours,  should  now  in  such 
an  obstinate  and  peremptory  belief  adhere  unto 
their  own  doctrine,  expect  impossibilities,  and, 
in  the  face  and  eye  of  the  Church,  persist 
without  the  least  hope  of  conversion :  this  is  a 
vice  in  them,  that  were  a  virtue  in  us  ;  for 
obstinacy  in  a  bad  cause  is  but  constancy  in  a 
good.     And  herein  I  must  accuse  those  of  my  and  want 

-, .    .  r.         .  -,  .  n  -,  of  constan- 

own  religion,  tor  there  is  not  any  .  of  such  a  cy  among 
fugitive    faith,    such   an   unstable    belief,    as   a  Christians. 
Christian  ;   none    that   do   so   often    transform 


54:  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

themselves,  not  unto  several  shapes  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  of  the  same  species,  but  unto  more 
unnatural  and  contrary  forms  of  Jew  and  Ma- 
hometan ;  that  from  the  name  of  Saviour,  can 
condescend  to  the  bare  term  of  prophet ;  and 
from  an  old  belief  that  he  is  come,  fall  to  a 
new  expectation  of  his  coming.  It  is  the  prom- 
ise of  Christ  to  make  us  all  one  flock ;  but  how 
and  when  this  union  shall  be,  is  as  obscure  to 
me  as  the  last  day.  Of  those  four  members  of 
religion  we  hold  a  slender  .proportion ;  *  there 
are,  I  confess,  some  new  additions,  yet  small  to 
those  which  accrue  to  our  adversaries,  and  those 
only  drawn  from  the  revolt  of  Pagans,  men  but 
of  negative  impieties,  and  such  as  deny  Christ, 
but  because  they  never  heard  of  him :  but  the 
religion  of  the  Jews  is  expressly  against  the 
Christian,  and  the  Mahometan  against  both ;  for 
the  Turk  in  the  bulk  he  now  stands,  is  beyond 
all  hope  of  conversion ;  if  he  fall  asunder,  there 
may  be  conceived  hopes,  but  not  without  strong 
improbabilities.  The  Jew  is  obstinate  in  all 
fortunes ;  the  persecution  of  fifteen  hundred 
years  hath  but  confirmed  them  in  their  error : 

*  The  population  of  our  globe  has  been  divided  thus :  — 

Christians 260,000,000 

Jews 4,000,000 

Mahometans 96,000,000 

Idolaters  of  all  sorts    ....  500,000,000 

Total  population  of  the  world     .        .      860,000,000 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  55 

they  have  already  endured  whatsoever  may  be 
inflicted,  and  have  suffered  in  a  had  cause,  even 
to  the  condemnation  of  their  enemies.  Perse- 
cution is  a  bad  and  indirect  way  to  plant  relig- 
ion ;  it  hath  been  the  unhappy  method  of  angry 
devotions,  not  only  to  confirm  honest  religion, 
but  wicked  heresies,  and  extravagant  opinions. 
It  was  the  first  stone  and  basis  of  our  faith;  The  wood 
none  can  more  justly  boast  of  persecutions,  and  l^^d™ 
glory  in  the  number  and  valour  of  martyrs ;  of  the 
for,  to  speak  properly,  those  are  true  and  al- 
most only  examples  of  fortitude :  those  that  are 
fetched  from  the  field,  or  drawn  from  the  ac- 
tions of  the  camp,  are  not  ofttimes  so  truly 
precedents  of  valour  as  audacity,  and  at  the 
best  attain  but  to  some  bastard  piece  of  forti- 
tude :  if  we  shall  strictly  examine  the  circum- 
stances and  requisites  which  Aristotle  requires 
to  true  and  perfect  valour,  we  shall  find  the 
name  only  in  his  master  Alexander,  and  as 
little  in  that  Roman  worthy,  Julius  Caesar; 
and  if  any,  in  that  easy  and  active  way,  have 
done  so  nobly  as  to  deserve  that  name,  yet  in 
the  passive  and  more  terrible  piece,  these  have 
surpassed,  and  in  a  more  heroical  way  may 
claim  the  honour  of  that  title.  It  is  not  in  the 
power  of  every  honest  faith  to  proceed  thus  far, 
or  pass  to  heaven  through  the  flames:  every 
one  hath  it  not  in  that  full  measure,  nor  in  so 


\ 


56  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

audacious  and  resolute  a  temper,  as  to  endure 
those  terrible  tests  and  trials;  who,  notwith- 
standing, in  a  peaceable  way  do  truly  adore  their 
Saviour,  and  have,  no  doubt,  a  faith  acceptable 
in  the  eyes  of  God. 
Not  aii  are  XXVI.  Now  as  all  that  die  in  the  war  are 
™hf  iSfer  not  terme(l  soldiers ;  so  neither  can  I  properly 
in  matters  term  all  those  that  suffer  in  matters  of  religion, 
'  martyrs.  The  Council  of  Constance  condemns 
John  Huss  for  an  heretic ;  the  stories  of  his 
own  party  style  him  a  martyr.  He  must  needs 
offend  the  divinity  of  both,  that  says  he  was 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other.*  There  are 
many,  (questionless,)  canonized  on  earth,  that 
shall  never  be  saints  in  heaven ;  and  have  their 
<^  names  in  histories  and  martyrologies,  who  in 
the  eyes  of  God  are  not  so  perfect  martyrs  as 
was  that  wise  heathen  Socrates,  that  suffered 
on  a  fundamental  point  of  religion,  the  unity 
of  God.  I  have  often  pitied  that  miserable 
bishop  that  suffered  in  the  cause  of  Antipodes ;  f 
yet  cannot  choose  but  accuse  him  of  as  much 
madness,  for  exposing  his  living  on  such  a  trifle, 
as  those  of  ignorance  and  folly,  that  condemned 
him.     I  think  my  conscience  will  not  give  me 

*  The  Bodleian  MS.  reads,  Is  it  false  divinity,  if  I  say  he  was 
neither  one  or  the  other? 

t  This  was  Virgilius,  Bishop  of  Saltzburg.  He  died  November 
27,  780.  See  Curiosities  of  Literature,  and  Whewell's  History  of 
the  Inductive  Sciences,~vol.  i.  p.  256. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  57 

the  lie,  if  I  say  there  are  not  many  extant  that 
in  a  noble  way  fear  the  face  of  death  less  than 
myself;  yet  from  the  moral  duty  I  owe  to  the 
commandment  of  God,  and  the  natural  respects 
that  I  tender  unto  the  conservation  of  my  es- 
sence and  being,  I  would  not  perish  upon  a 
ceremony,  politic  points,  or  indifferency :  nor 
is  my  belief  of  that  untractable  temper,  as  not 
to  bow  at  their  obstacles,  or  connive  at  matters 
wherein  there  are  not  manifest  impieties ;  the 
leaven  therefore  and  ferment  of  all,  not  only 
civil  but  religious  actions,  is  wisdom;  without 
which,  to  commit  ourselves  to  the  flames  is 
homicide,  and,  I  fear,  but  to  pass  through  one 
fire  into  another. 

XXVII.  That  miracles  are  ceased,  I  can  Of  mira- 
neither  prove,  nor  absolutely  deny,- much  less  ces* 
define  the  time  and  period  of  their  cessation: 
that  they  survived  Christ,  is  manifest  upon 
record  of  Scripture  ;  that  .they  outlived  the 
Apostles  also,  and  were  revived  at  the  conver- 
sion of  nations,  many  years  after,  we  cannot  de- 
ny, if  we  shall  not  question  those  writers  whose 
testimonies  we  do  not  controvert  in  points  that 
make  for  our  own  opinions  ;  therefore  that  may 
have  some  truth  in  it  that  is  reported  by  the 
Jesuits  of  their  miracles  in  the  Indies.  I  could 
wish  it  were  true,  or  had  any  other- testimony 
than  their  own  pens:  they  may  easily  believe 


58  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

those  miracles  abroad,  who  daily  conceive  a 
greater  at  home,  the  transmutation  of  those 
visible  elements  into  the  body  and  blood  of  our 
Saviour :  for  the  conversion  of  water  into  wine, 
which  he  wrought  in  Cana,-  or  what  the  devil 
would  have  had  him  done  in  the  wilderness, 
of  stones  into  bread,  compared  to  this,  will 
ah  equally  scarce  deserve  the  name  of  a  miracle :  though 
easy  to  mcleec^  to  speak  properly,  there  is  not  one 
miracle  greater  than  another,  they-  being  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  the  hand  of  God,  to 
which  all  things  are  of  an  equal  facility;  and  to 
create  the  world,  as  easy  as  one  single  creature  ; 
for  this  is  also  a  miracle,  not  only  to  produce 
effects  against  or  above  nature,  but  before  na- 
ture ;  and  to  create  nature,  as  great  a  miracle 
as  to  contradict  or  transcend  her.  We  do  too 
\_  narrowly. define  the  power  of  God,  restraining 
it  to  our  capacities.  £1  hold  that  God  can  do 
all  things ;  how  he  should  work  contradictions 
I  do  not  understand,  yet  dare  not  therefore 
deny,  I  cannot  see  why  the  angel  of  God 
2  Esdr.  should  question  Esdras  to  recall  the  time  past, 
if  it  were  beyond  his  own  power ;  or  that  God 
should  pose  mortality  in  that  which  he  was  not 
able  to  perform  himself.  I  will  not  say  God 
cannot,  but  he  will  not,  perform  many  things, 
which  we  plainly  affirm  he  cannot:  this  I  am 
sure  is   the   mannerliest   proposition,  wherein, 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  59 

notwithstanding,  I  hold  no  paradox.    For  strict- 
ly, his  power  is  the   same  with  his  will,   and      ^ 
they  both  with  all  the  rest  do  make  but  one 
God. 

XXVIII.  Therefore  that  miracles  have  been,  ah  reia- 
I  do  believe ;  that  they  may  yet  be  wrought  |^c^ 
by  the  living,  I  do  not  deny ;  but  have  no  con-  not  to  be 
fidence  in  those  which  are  fathered  on  the  dead  ;  alike< 
and  this  hath  ever  made  me  suspect  the  efficacy 
of  relics,  to  examine  the  bones,  question  the 
habits  and  appurtenances  of  saints,  and  even 
of  Christ  himself.  I  cannot  conceive  why  the 
cross  that  Helena  found,  and  whereon  Christ 
himself  died,  should  have  power  to  restore 
others  unto  life :  I  excuse-  not  Constantine  from 
a  fall  off  his  horse,  or  a  mischief  from  his  ene- 
mies, upon  the  wearing  those  nails  on  his  bridle, 
which  our  Saviour  bore  upon  the  cross  in  his 
hands :  I  compute  among  your  pice  fraudes,  nor 
many  degrees  before  consecrated  swords  and 
roses,  that  which  Baldwyn  king  of  Jerusalem 
returned  the  Genovese  for  their  cost  and  pains 
in  his  war,  to  wit,  the  ashes  of  John  the  Baptist. 
Those  that  hold  the  sanctity  of  their  souls  doth 
leave  behind  a  tincture  and  sacred  faculty  on 
their  bodies,  speak  naturally  of  miracles,  and 
do  not  salve  the  doubt.  Now  one  reason  I 
tender  so  little  devotion  unto  relics  is,  I  think, 
the  slender  and  doubtful  respect  I  have  always 


60  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

held  unto  antiquities ;  for  that  indeed  which  I 
admire  is  far  before  antiquity,  that  is,  eternity ; 
and  that  is,   God  himself;  who  though  he  be 

Dan.  vu.  styled  the  Ancient  of  Days,  cannot  receive  the 
adjunct  of  antiquity,  who  was  before  the  world, 
and  shall  be  after  it,  yet  is  not  older  than  it ; 
for  in  his  years  there  is  no  climacter ;  his  dura- 
tion is  eternity,  and  far  more  venerable  than 
antiquity. 

oracles.  XXIX.  But  above  all  things,  I  wonder  how 
the  curiosity  of  wiser  heads  could  pass  that 
great  and  indisputable  miracle,  the  cessation  of 
oracles ;  and  in  what  swoon  their  reasons  lay, 
to  content  themselves,  and  sit  down  with  such 
a  far-fetched  and  ridiculous  reason  as  Plutarch 
allegeth  for  it.  The  Jews,  that  can  believe 
the  supernatural  solstice  of  the  sun  in  the  days 
of  Joshua,  have  yet  the  impudence  to  deny 
the  eclipse,  which  every  pagan  confessed  at  his 
death %  but  for  this  it  is  evident  beyond  all 
contradiction,  the  devil  himself  confessed  it.* 
Certainly  it  is  not  a  warrantable  curiosity,  to 
examine  the  verity  of  Scripture  by  the  concor- 
dance of  human  history,  or  seek  to  confirm  the 
chronology  of  Hester  or  Daniel,  by  the  author- 
ity of  Magasthenes  or  Herodotus  ;  I  confess, 
I  have  had  an  unhappy  curiosity  this  way, 
till  I  laughed  myself  out  of  it  with  a  piece  of 

*  In  his  oracle  to  Augustus. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  61 

Justin,*  where  he  delivers,  that  the  children 
of  Israel  for  being  scabbed  were  banished  out 
of  Egypt.  And  truly  since  I  have  understood 
the  occurrences  of  the  world,  and  know  in 
what  counterfeiting  shapes  and  deceitful  viz- 
ards times  present  represent  on  the  stage  things 
past,  I  do  believe  them  little  more  than  things 
to  come.  Some  have  been  of  my  opinion,  and 
endeavoured  to  write  the  history  of  their  own 
lives ;  wherein  Moses  hath  outgone  them  all, 
and  left  not  only  the  story  of  his  life,  but,  as 
some  will  have  it,  of  his  death  also. 

XXX.  It  is  a  riddle  to  me,  how  this  story  witchcraft. 
of  oracles  hath  not  wormed  out  of  the  world 
that  doubtful  conceit  of  spirits  and  witches ; 
how  so  many  learned  Leads  should  so  far  forget 
their  metaphysics,  and  destroy  the  ladder  and 
scale  of  creatures,  as  to  question  the  existence 
of  spirits.  \  For  my  part,  I  have  ever  believed, 
and  do  now  know,  that  there  are  witches  :  they 
that  doubt  of  these,  do  not  only  deny,  them, 
but  spirits  ;(and  are  obliquely^)  and  upon  con- 
sequence, a  sort  not  of  infidels,  but  atheists. 
Those  that  to  confute  their  incredulity  desire 
to  see  apparitions,  shall  questionless  never  be- 
hold any,  nor  have  the  power  to  be  so  much 
as  witches ;  the  devil  hath  them  already  in  a 
heresy  as  capital  as  witchcraft ;  and  to  appear 

*  Justin.  Hist.  lib.  36.     Cf.  Tacitus  Hist.  lib.  v. 


62  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

to  them,  were  but  to  convert  them.  Of  all 
the  delusions  wherewith  he  deceives  mortality, 
there  is  not  any  that  puzzleth  me  more  than 
the  legerdemain  of  changelings.*  I  do  not 
credit  those  transformations  of  reasonable  crea- 
tures into  beasts,  —  or  that  the  devil  hath  power 
to  transpeciate  a  man  into  a  horse,  who  tempted 
Christ  (as  a  trial  of  his  divinity)  to  convert 
but  .stones  into  bread.  I  could  believe  that 
spirits  use  with  man  the  act  of  carnality,  and 
that  in  both  sexes ;  I  conceive  they  may  as- 
sume, steal,  or  contrive  a  body,  wherein  there 
may  be  action  enough  to  content  decrepit  lust, 
or  passion  to  satisfy  more  active  veneries ;  yet 
in  both,  without  a  possibility  of  generation :  f 
and  therefore  that  opinion  that  Antichrist  should 
be  born  of  the  tribe  of  Dan  by  conjunction 
with  the  devil,  is  ridiculous,  and  a  conceit  fitter 
for  a  rabbin  than  a  Christian.  I  hold  that  the 
devil  doth  really  possess  some  men,  the  spirit 
of  melancholy  others,  the  spirit  of  delusion  oth- 
ers; that  as  the  devil  is  concealed  and  denied 


*  "  From  thence  a  Faery  thee  unweeting  reft, 
There  as  thou  slepst  in  tender  swadling  band, 
And  her  base  Elfin  brood  there  for  thee  left: 
Such  men  do  Chaungelings  call,  so  chaung'd  by  Faeries  theft." 

Faery  Queene,  i.  x.  65. 
See  Mids.  Night's  Dream,  ii.  1. 
Luther's  Divine  Discourses,  folio,  p.  387. 
t  See  Taylor's  Holy  Living,  c.  2,  S.  3,  p.  64. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  63 

by  some,  so  God  and  good  angels  are  pretended 
by  others,  whereof  the  late  defection*  of  the 
maid  of  Germany  hath  left  a  pregnant  example. 

XXXI.  Again,   I  believe  that  all   that  use  Philosophy 
sorceries,  incantations,  and  spells  are  not  witch-  g^ed 
es,  or,  as  we  term  them,  magicians.     I  conceive  from 
there  is  a  traditional  magic,  not  learned  imme- 
diately from  the  devil,  but  at. second  hand  from 
his  scholars,  who,  having  once  the  secret  be- 
trayed, are   able,  and   do   empirically  practise 
without  his  advice,  they  both  proceeding  upon 
the  principles   of  nature ;  where  actives  aptly 
conjoined  to  disposed  passives  will  under  any 
master  produce  their  eifects.     Thus,  I  think  at 
first  a  great  part  of  philosophy  was  witchcraft, 
which  being  afterward  derived  to  one  another, 
proved  but  philosophy,  and  was  indeed  no  more 
but  the  honest  effects  of  nature :  what  invented 
by  us,  is  philosophy,  learned  from  him,  is  magic. 
(We  do  surely  owe  the  discovery  of  many  secrets  Thesug- 
to  the  discovery  of  good  and  bad  angels^    I  angeL 
could  never  pass  that  sentence  of  Paracelsus, 
without  an  asterisk,  or  annotation :  f  ascendens 
astrum  multa  revelat  qucerentibus  magnolia  na- 
tural, i.  e.  opera  Dei.     I  do  think  that  many 
mysteries  ascribed  to  our  own  inventions  have 

*  Defection.    MS.  W.  reads  detection. 

t  Thereby  is  meant  our  good  angel  appointed  us  from  our 
nativity. 


61  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

been  the  courteous  revelations  of  spirits;  for 
those  noble  essences  in  heaven  bear  a  friendly 
regard  unto  their  fellow  natures  on  earth ;  and 
therefore  believe  that  those  many,  prodigies  and 
ominous  prognostics,  which  forerun  the  ruins 
of  states,  princes,  and  private  persons,  are  the 
charitable  premonitions  of  good  angels,  which 
more  careless  inquiries  term  but  the  effects  of 
chance  and  nature. 
The  Spirit  XXXII.  Now  besides  these  particular  and 
fused  divided  spirits  there  may  be  (for  aught  I  know) 
through-  an  universal  and  common  spirit  to  the  whole 
world.  world.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Plato,  and  it 
is  yet  of  the  Hermetical  philosophers :  if  there 
be  a  common  nature  that  unites  and  ties  the 
scattered  and  divided  individuals  into  one  spe- 
cies, why  may  there  not  be  one  that  unites 
them  all?  However,  I  am  sure  there  is  a 
common  spirit  that  plays  within  us,  yet  makes 
no  part  of  us  ;  and  that  is,  the  Spirit  of  God, 
the  fire  and  scintillation  of  that  noble  and  mighty 
essence  which  is  the  life  and  radical  heat  of 
spirits,  and  those  essences  that  know  not  the 
virtue  of  the  sun  ;  a  fire  quite  contrary  to  the 
fire  of  hell :  this  is  that  gentle  heat  that  brood- 
Gen,  i.  2.  ed  on  the  waters,  and  in  six  days  hatched  the 
world;  this  is  that  irradiation  that  dispels  the 
mists  of  hell,  the  clouds  of  horror,  fear,  sorrow, 
despair ;  and  preserves  the  region  of  the  mind 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  65 

in  serenity :  whosoever  feels  not  the  warm  gale, 
and  gentle  ventilation  of  this  spirit,  (though  I 
feel  his  pulse,)  I  dare  not  say  he  lives ;  for 
truly  without  this,  to  me  there  is  no  heat  under 
the  tropic ;  nor  any  light,  though  I  dwelt  in  the 
body  of  the  sun. 

As  when  the  labouring  Sun  hath  wrought  his  track 

Up  to  the  top  of  lofty  Cancer's  back, 

The  icy  ocean  cracks,  the  frozen  pole 

Thaws  with  the  heat  of  the  celestial  coal ; 

So  when  thy  absent  beams  begin  t'  impart, 

Again  a  solstice  on  my  frozen  heart, 

My  winter 's  o'er,  my  drooping  spirits  sing, 

And  every  part  revives  into  a  Spring. 

But  if  thy  quick'ning  beams  awhile  decline, 

And  with  their  light  bless  not  this  orb  of  mine, 

A  chilly  frost  surpriseth  every  member, 

And  in  the  midst  of  June  I  feel  December. 

0  how  this  earthly  temper  doth  debase 

The  noble  soul,  in  this  her  humble  place. 

Whose  wingy  nature  ever  doth  aspire 

To  reach  that  place  whence  first  it  took  its  fire. 

These  flames  I  feel,  which  in  my  heart  do  dwell, 

Are  not  thy  beams,  but  take  their  fire  from  hell ; 

0  quench  them  all,  and  let  thy  Light  divine 

Be  as  the  Sun  to  this  poor  orb  of  mine ; 

And  to  thy  sacred  Spirit  convert  those  fires, 

Whose  earthly  fumes  choke  my  devout  aspires. 

XXXIII.  Therefore  for  spirits,  I  am  so  far  ofguar- 
from  denying  their  existence,  that  I  could  easily  aidant 
believe,  that  not  only  whole  countries,  but  par-  sPirits« 
tieular  persons,  have  their  tutelary  and  guardian 
angels :  it  is  not  a  new  opinion  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  but  ah  old  one   of  Pythagoras   and 
5 


66  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

Plato ;  there  is  no  heresy  in  it ;  and  if  not 
manifestly  defined  in  Scripture,  yet  is  it  an 
opinion  of  a  good  and  wholesome  use  in  the 
course  and  actions  of  a  man's  life,  and  would 
serve  as  an  hypothesis  to  salve  many  doubts, 
whereof  common  philosophy  affordeth  no  solu- 
tion. Now  if  you  demand  my  opinion  and  met- 
aphysics of  their  natures,  I  confess  them  very 
shallow ;  most  of  them  in  a  negative  way,  like 
that  of  God ;  or  in  a  comparative,  between  our- 
selves and  fellow-creatures ;  for  there  is  in  this 
universe  a  stair,  or  manifest  scale  of  creatures, 
rising  not  disorderly,  or  in  confusion,  but  with 
a  comely  method  and  proportion :  between  crea- 
tures of  mere  existence  and  things  of  life,  there 
is  a  large  disproportion  of  nature ;  between  plants 
and  animals  or  creatures  of  sense,  a  wider  dif- 
ference ;  between  them  and  man,  a  far  greater : 
and  if  the  proportion  hold  on,  between  man 
and  angels  there  should  be  yet  a  greater.  We 
do  not  comprehend  their  natures,  who  retain 
the  first  definition  of  Porphyry,*  and  distinguish 
them  from  ourselves  by  immortality ;  for  before 
his  fall  man  also  was  immortal ;  yet  must  we 
needs  affirm  that  he  had  a  different  essence 
from  the  angels :  having  therefore  no  certain 
knowledge  of  their  natures,  't  is  no  bad  method 
of  the  schools",  whatsoever  perfection  we   find 

*  Essehtiae  rationalis  immortalis. 


0i  uei^K 


v'      01 
111  67 

obscurely  in  ourselves,  in  a  more  c68^=j|t4r  JIPOIVS '^ 
absolute  way  to  ascribe  unto  them.     I 
they  have  an  extemporary  knowledge,  and  upon 
the  first  motion  of  their  reason  do  what  we 
cannot  without  study  or  deliberation  ;  that  they 
know   things    by   their  forms,   and   define    by 
specifical  difference  what  we  describe  by  acci- 
dents and  properties;  and  therefore  probabili- 
ties to  us  may  be  demonstrations  unto  them: 
that  they  have  knowledge  not  only  of  the  spe- 
cifical, but  numerical  forms  of  individuals,  and 
understand  by  what  reserved   difference  each 
single    hypostasis   (besides    the    relation    to   its 
species)  becomes  its  numerical  self:  that  as  the 
soul  hath  a  power  to  move  the  body  it  informs, 
so  there  's  a  faculty  to  move  any,  though  inform 
none ;  ours  upon  restraint  of  time,  place,  and 
distance;  but  that  invisible  hand  that  conveyed  Beiandthe 
Habakkuk  to  the  lion's  den,  or  Philip  to  Azo-  J^f^. 
tus,  infringeth  this  rule,  and  hath  a  secret  con-  40- 
veyance,  wherewith  mortality  is  not  acquainted  : 
if  they  have  that  intuitive  knowledge,  whereby  I 
as  in  reflexion  they  behold  the  thoughts  of  one   • 
another,  I  cannot  peremptorily  deny  but  they 
know  a  great  part  of  ours.    They  that,  to  refute 
the  invocation  of  saints,  have  denied  that  they 
have  any  knowledge  of  our  affairs  below,  have 
proceeded  too  far,  and  must  pardon  my  opinion, 
till  I  can  thoroughly  answer  that  piece  of  Scrip- 


68  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

st.  Luke  ture,  at  the  conversion  of  a  sinner,  the  angels  in 
'    '  heaven  rejoice.*     I   cannot  with   those  in  that 
father  securely  interpret  the  work  of  the  first 
day,  fiat  lux,  to  the  creation  of  angels ;  though 
I  confess,  there  is  not  any  creature  that  hath 
so  near  a  glimpse   of  their  nature  as  light  in 
the  sun  and  elements :  we  style  it  a  bare  acci- 
dent ;  but  where  it  subsists  alone  't  is  a  spiritual 
substance,  and  may  be  an  angel :  in  brief,  con- 
ceive light  invisible,  and  that  is  a  spirit. 
Man  a  Mi-      XXXIV.  These  are   certainly  the  magiste- 
^2     r*a^  an<^  master-pieces  of  the  Creator,  the  flow- 
of  the  Na-  er,  or  (as  we  may  say)  the  best  part  of  nothing, 
crated  es-  actually  existing,   what  we   are   but   in   hopes 
sences.       anc[  probability :  we  are  only  that  amphibious 
piece  between  corporal   and   spiritual  essence, 
that  middle  form  that  links  those  two  together, 
and  makes  good  the  method  of  God  and  nature, 
that  jumps  not  from  extremes,  but  unites  the 
incompatible  distances  by  some  middle  and  par- 
ticipating  natures.     That   we   are   the   breath 
Gen.  i.  26,  and  similitude   of  God,   it  is  indisputable  and 
2t '  "' 7'     upon  record  of  Holy  Scripture:  but  to  call  our- 

*  "  Take  any  moral  or  religious  book,  and  instead  of  under- 
standing each  sentence  according  to  the  main  purpose  and  inten- 
tion, interpret  every  phrase  in  its  literal  sense  as  conveying,  and 
designed  to  convey,  a  metaphysical  verity,  or  historical  fact :  — 
what  a  strange  medley  of  doctrines  should  we  not  educe !  And 
yet  this  is  the  way  in  which  we  are  constantly  in  the  habit  of 
treating  the  books  of  the  New  Testament."  —  Coleridge. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  G9 

selves  a  microcosm,  or  little  world,*  I  thought 
it  only  a  pleasant  trope  of  rhetoric,  till  my  near 
judgment  and  second  thoughts  told  me  there 
was  a  real  truth  therein :  for  first  we  are  a  rude 
mass,  and  in  the  rank  of  creatures  which  only 
are,  and  have  a  dull  kind  of  being  not  yet  privi- 
leged with  life,  or  preferred  to  sense  or  reason ; 
next  we  live  the  life  of  plants,  the  life  of  ani- 
mals, the  life  of  men,  and  at  last  the  life  of 
spirits,  running  on  in  one  mysterious  nature, 
those  five  kind  of  existences,  which  comprehend 
the  creatures,  not  only  of  the  world,  but  of  the 
universe.  Thus  is  man  that  great  and  true 
amphibium,  whose  nature  is  disposed  to  live  not 
only  like  other  creatures  in  divers  elements, 
but  in  divided  and  distinguished  worlds :  for 
though  there  be  but  one  world  to  sense,  there 
are  two  to  reason;  the  one  visible,  the  other 
invisible,  whereof  Moses  seems  to  have  left  de- 
scription, and  of  the  other  so  obscurely,  that 
some  parts  thereof  are  yet  in  controversy.  And 
truly  for  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  I  must 
confess  a  great  deal  of  obscurity;  though  di- 
vines have  to  the  power  of  human  reason  en- 
deavoured to  make  all  go  in  a  literal  meaning, 
yet  those  allegorical  interpretations  are  also 
probable,  and  perhaps  the  mystical  method  of 

*  It  was  a  saying  of  the  Stoics :    Bpaxvv  pkv  Kocrpov  tov  av 
6pa>nov,  peyau  be  avOputivov  rbv  koctuov  eivai. 


70  RELIGIO  MEDICI, 

Moses  bred  up  in  the  hieroglyphical  schools  of 
the  ^Egyptians.* 

of  crea-  XXXV.  Now  for  the  immaterial  world,  me- 
thinks  we  need  not  wander  so  far  as  the  first 
movable  ;  for  even  in  this  material  fabric  the 
spirits  walk  as  freely  exempt  from  the  affection 
of  time,  place,  and  motion,  as  beyond  the  ex- 
tremest  circumference :  do  but  extract  f  from 
the  corpulency  of  bodies,  or  resolve  things  be- 
yond their  first  matter,  -and  you  discover  the 
habitation  of  angels,  which  if  I  call  the  ubiqui- 
tary  and  omnipresent  essence,  of  God,  I  hope  I 
shall  not  offend  divinity  :  for  before  the  creation 
of  the  world,  God  was  really  all  things.  For 
the  angels  he  created  no  new  world,  or  deter- 
minate mansion,  and  therefore  they  are  every- 

st.  Matt,  where  where  is  his  essence,  and  do  five  at 
a  distance  even  in  himself:  that  God  made 
all  things  for  man,  is  in  some  sense  true,  yet 
not  so  far  as  to  subordinate  the  creation  of  those 
purer  creatures  unto  ours,  though  as  ministering 
spirits  they  do  and  are  willing  to  fulfil  the  will 
of  God  in  these  lower  and  sublunary  affairs  of 

*  "  The  second  Chapter  of  Genesis  from  v.  4,  and  the  third 
Chapter,  are  to  my  mind  as  evidently  symbolical,  as  the  first 
Chapter  is  literal.  The  first  Chapter  is  manifestly  by  Moses 
himself;  but  the  second  and  third  seem  to  me  of  far  higher  an- 
tiquity, and  have  the  air  of  being  translated  into  words  from 
graven  stones."  —  Coleridge. 

f  Abstract,  MS. 


xviii.  10. 


EELIGIO  MEDICI.  71 

man.     God  made  all  things  for  himself,  and  it 

is  impossible  he  should  make  them  for  any  other 

end  than  his  own  glory  ;  it  is  all  he  can  receive, 

and   all   that   is   without  himself:    for   honour 

being  an  external  adjunct,  and  in  the  honourer 

rather   than   in   the   person   honoured,   it   was 

necessary  to  make  a  creature,  from  whom  he 

might  receive  this  homage,  and  that  is  in  the 

other  world,  angels,  in  this,  man ;  which  when 

we   neglect,   we   forget   the   very  end   of  our 

creation,  and  may  justly  provoke  God,  not  only 

to  repent  that  he  hath  made  the  world,  but  that  Gen.  vi.  6  •, 

he  hath  sworn  he  would  not  destroy  it.     That  ™'^[%ii 

there  is  but  one  world,  is  a  conclusion  of  Faith. 

Aristotle  with  all  his  philosophy  hath  not  been 

able  to  prove  it,  and  as  weakly  that  the  world 

was  eternal ;  thai  dispute  much  troubled  the  pen 

of  the  ancient  philosophers,  but  Moses  decided 

that  question,  and  all  is  salved  with  the  new  term 

of  a  creation,  that  is,  a  production  of  something 

out  of  nothing:  and  what  is  that?  *  whatsoever 

is  opposite  to  something,  or  more  exactly  that 

which  is  truly  contrary  unto  God:  for  he  only 

is,  all  others  have  an  existence  with  dependency, 

and  are  something  but  by  a  distinction  ;  and 

herein  is  divinity  conformant  unto  philosophy, 

and  generation  not  only -founded  on  contrarieties, 

but  also  creation;  God  being  all  things,  is  con- 

*  See  Buckland's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  vol.  i.  p.  22. 


72  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

trary  unto  nothing,  out  of  which  were  made  all 
things,  and  so  nothing  became  something,  and 
omneity  informed  nullity  into  an  essence. 
Man  the  XXXVI.  The  whole  creation  is  a  mystery, 

pieceof  an<^  particularly  that  of  man:  at  the  blast  of 
Creation,  his  mouth  were  the  rest  of  the  creatures  made, 
25.  and  at  his  bare  word  they  started  out  of  noth- 

Gen.  ii.  7.  ing  i  but  in  the  frame  of  man  (as  the  text 
describes  it)  he  played  the  sensible  operator, 
and  seemed  not  so  much  to  create,  as  make 
him  :  when  he  had  separated  the  materials  of 
other  creatures,  there  consequently  resulted  a 
form  and  soul ;  but  having  raised  the  walls  of 
man,  he  has  driven  to  a  second  and  harder 
creation  of  substance  like  himself,  an  incorrupt- 
ible and  immortal  soul.  For  these  two  affec- 
tions we  have  the  philosophy  and  opinion  of 
the  heathens^  the  flat  affirmative  of  Plato,  and 
not  a  negative  frqm}  Aristotle.  There  is  another 
scruple  cast  in  by  divinity, (concerning  its  pro- 
duction) much  disputed  in  the  German  audi- 
tories, and  with  that  indifferency  and  equality 
of  arguments,  as  leave  the  controversy  unde- 
termined. I  am  not  of  Paracelsus  his  mind,* 
that  boldly  delivers  a  receipt  to  make  a  man 
without  conjunction  ;  yet  cannot  but  wonder  at 
the  multitude  of  heads  that  do  deny  traduction, 

*  D'Israeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  73 

having  no  other  argument  to  confirm  their  be- 
lief, than  that  rhetorical  sentence,  and  anti- 
metathesis  of  Augustine,  Creando  infunditur,  in- 
fundendo  creatur :  either  opinion  will  consist 
well  enough  with  religion :  yet  I  should  rather 
incline  to  this,  did  not  one  objection  haunt  me, 
not  wrong  from  speculations  and  subtilties, 
but  from  common  sense,  and  observation;  not 
picked  from  the  leaves  of  any  author,  but  bred 
amongst  the  weeds  and  tares  of  mine  own  brain ; 
and  this  is  a  conclusion  from  the  equivocal  and 
monstrous  productions  in  the  copulation  of  a 
man  with  a  beast :  for  if  the  soul  of  man  be  not 
transmitted,  and  transfused  in  the  seed  of  the 
parents,  why  are  not  those  productions  merely 
beasts,  but  have  also  an  impression  and  tincture 
of  reason  in  as  high  a  measure  as  it  can  evi- 
dence itself  in  those  improper  organs?  Nor 
truly  can  I  peremptorily  deny  that  the  soul  in 
this  her  sublunary  estate  is  wholly,  and  in  all 
acceptions,  inorganical,  but  that  for  the  per- 
formance of  her  ordinary  actions  is  required 
not  only  a  symmetiy  and  proper  disposition  of 
organs,  but  a  crasis  and  temper  correspondent 
to  its  operations ;  yet  is  not  this  mass  of  flesh 
and  visible  structure  the  instrument  and  proper 
corps  of  the  soul,  but  rather  of  sense,  and  that 
the  hand  of  reason.  In  our  study  of  anatomy 
there  is  a  mass  of  mysterious  philosophy,  and 


74  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

such  as  reduced  the  very  heathens  to  divinity : 
yet  amongst  all  these  rare  discoveries,  and  curi- 
ous pieces  I  find  in  the  fabric  of  man,  I  do  not 
so  much  content  myself,  as  in  that  I  find  not,  — 
that  is,  no  organ  or  instrument  for  the  rational 
soul ;  for  in  the  brain,  which  we  term  the  seat 
of  reason,  there  is  not  anything  of  moment 
more  than  I  can  discover  in  the  crany  of  a 
beast:  and  this  is  a  sensible,  and  no  inconsid- 
erable argument  of  the  inorganity  of  the  soul, 
at  least  in  that  sense  we  usually  so  receive  it. 
T^lms_wearemen,  and  we  know  not  how  :  there 
is  something  in  us  that  can  be  without  us,  and 
will  be  after  us;  though  it  is  strange  that  it 
hath  no  history  what  it  was  before  us,  nor  can- 
not tell  how  it  entered  in  us. 
of  the  XXXVII.    Now   for    these    walls    of    flesh, 

body.  wherein  the  soul  doth  seem  to  be  immured  be- 
fore the  resurrection,  it  is  nothing  but  an  ele- 
mental composition,  and  a  fabric  that  must  fall 
is.  xi.6-8.  to  ashes.  All  flesh  is  grass,  is  not  only  meta- 
phorically, but  literally  true  ;  for  all  those  crea- 
tures we  behold  are  but  the  herbs  of  the  field, 
digested  into  flesh  in  them,  or  more  remotely 
carnified  in  ourselves.  Nay,  further,  we  are 
what  we  all  abhor,  anthropophagi  and  cannibals, 
devourers  not  only  of  men,  but  of  ourselves ; 
and  that  not  in  an  allegory,  but  a  positive  truth  : 
for  all  this  mass  of  flesh  which  we  behold  came 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  75 

in  at  our   mouths ;   this   frame  we  look   upon  ±^ 

hath  been  upon  our  trenchers ;  in  brief,  we  have 
devoured  ourselves.  I  cannot  believe  the  wis- 
dom of  Pythagoras  did  ever  positively,  and  in  a 
literal  sense,  affirm  his  metempsychosis,  or  im- 
possible transmigration  of  the  souls  of  men  into 
beasts :  of  all  metamorphoses,  or  transmigra- 
tions, I  believe  only  one,  that  is  of  Lot's  wife ;  2(?n' 
for  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar  proceeded  not  so  far :  Dan.  iy.  33. 
in  all  others  I  conceive  there  is  no  further  veri- 
ty than  is  contained  in  their  implicit  sense  and 
morality.  I  believe  that  the  whole  frame  of  a 
beast  doth  perish,  and  is  left  in  the  same  state 
after  death  as  before  it  was  materialled  unto 
life :  that  the  souls  of  men  know  neither  con- 
trary nor  corruption ;  that  they  subsist  beyond 
the  body,  and  outlive  death  by  the  privilege  of 
their  proper  natures,  and  without  a  miracle ; 
that  the  souls  of  the  faithful,  as  they  leave 
earth,  take  possession  of  heaven:  that  those 
apparitions  and  ghosts  of  departed  persons  are 
not  the  wandering  souls  of  men,  but  the  un- 
quiet walks  of  devils,  prompting  and  suggesting 
us  unto  mischief,  blood,  and  villany ;  instilling, 
and  stealing  into  our  hearts  that  the  blessed 
spirits  are  not  at  rest  in  their  graves,  but  wan- 
der solicitous  of  the  affairs  of  the  world :  but  that 
those  phantasms  appear  often,  and  do  frequent 
cemeteries,  charnel-houses,  and  churches,  it  is 


76  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

because  those  are  the  dormitories  of  the  dead, 
^      where   the   devil,  like   an   insolent   champion, 
beholds  with  pride  the  spoils  and  trophies  of 
his  victory  in  Adam. 
Death  XXXVIII.  This  is  that  dismal  conquest  we 

2  Esdr.  vii.  all  deplore,  that  makes  us  so  often  cry,  Adam, 
quid  fecisti?  I  thank  God  I  have  not  those 
strait  ligaments,  or  narrow  obligations  to  the 
world,  as  to  dote  on  life,  or  be  convulsed  and 
tremble  at  the  name  of  death :  not  that  I  am 
insensible  of  the  dread  and  horror  thereof;  or 
by  raking  into  the  bowels  of  the  deceased,  con- 
tinual sight  of  anatomies,  skeletons,  or  cadav- 
erous reliques,  like  vespilloes,  or  grave-makers, 
I  am  become  stupid,  or  have  forgot  the  appre- 
hension of  mortality ;  but  that  marshalling  all 
the  horrors,  and  contemplating  the  extremi- 
hath  no  ties  thereof,  I  find  not  anything  therein  able  to 
aerial,  daunt  the  courage  of  a  man,  much  less  a  well 
resolved  Christian ;  and  therefore  am  not  angry 
at  the  error  of  our  first  parents,  or  unwilling 
to  bear  a  part  of  this  common  fate,  land  like  the 
best  of  them  to  die,  that  is,  to  cease  to  breathe, 
to  take  a  farewell  of  the  elements,  to  be  a  kind 
of  nothing  for  a  moment,  to  be  within  one  in- 
1  cor.  xv.  stant  of  a  spirit  J  When  I  take  a  fall  view  and 
circle  of  myself  without  this  reasonable  mod- 
erator, and  equal  piece  of  justice,  Death,  I  do 
conceive  myself  the  miserablest  person  extant : 


19. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  77 

were  there  not  another  life  that  I  hope  for,  all 
the  vanities  of  this  world  should  not  intreat  a 
a  moment's  breath  from  me :  could  the  devil 
work  my  belief  to  imagine  I  could  never  die,  I 
would  not  outlive  that  very  thought,  I  have 
so  abject  a  conceit  of  this  common  way  of  exist- 
ence, this  retaining  to  the  sun  and  elements,  I 
cannot  think  this  to  be  a  man,  or  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  dignity  of  humanity.  In  expectation 
of  a  better,  I  can  with  patience  embrace  this 
life,  yet  in  my  best  meditations  do  often  defy 
death :  I  honour  any  man  that  contemns  it,  nor 
can  I  highly  love  any  that  is  afraid  of  it :  this 
makes  me  naturally  love  a  soldier,  and  honour 
those  tattered  and  contemptible  regiments  that 
will  die  at  the  command  of  a  sergeant.  For  a 
Pagan  there  may  be  some  motives  to  be  in  love 
with  life ;  but  for  a  Christian  to  be  amazed  at 
death,  I  see  not  how  he  can  escape  this  dilem- 
ma, that  he  is  too  sensible  «f  this  life,  or  hope- 
less of  the  life  to  come. 

XXXIX.  Some   divines  count  Adam  thirty  Man  has 
years  old  at  his  creation,  because  they  suppose  ^p^to 
him  created  in  the  perfect  age  and  stature  of  states  of 
man.     And  surely  we  are  all  out  of  the  compu- 
tation of  our  age,  and  every  man  is  some  months 
elder  than  he  bethinks  him ;  for  we  live,  move, 
have  a  being,  and  are  subject  to  the  actions  of 
the  elements,  and  the  malice  of  diseases,  in  that 


78  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

other  world,  the  truest  microcosm,  the  womb 
of  our  mother;  for  besides  that  general  and 
common  existence  we  are  conceived  to  hold  in 
our  chaos,  and  whilst  we  sleep  within  the  bosom 
of  our  causes,  we  enjoy  a  being  and  life  in  three 
distinct  worlds,  wherein  we  receive  most  mani- 
fest graduations.  In  that  obscure  world,  and 
womb  of  our  mother,  our  time  is  short,  com- 
puted by  the  moon,  yet  longer  than  the  days  of 
many  creatures  that  behold  the  sun ;  ourselves 
being  not  yet  without  life,  sense,  and  reason ; 
though  for  the  manifestation  of  its  actions,  it 
awaits  the  opportunity  of  objects,  and  seems  to 
live  there  but  in  its  root  and  soul  of  vegetation. 
Entering  afterwards  upon  the  scene  of  the  world, 
we  rise  up  and  become  another  creature,  per- 
forming the  reasonable  actions  of  man,  and  ob- 
scurely manifesting  that  part  of  divinity  in  us ; 
but  not  in  complement  and  perfection,  till  we 
have  once  more  cast  our  secondine,  that  is,  this 
slough  of  flesh,  and  are  delivered  into  the  last 
2  Cor.  xii.  world,  that  is,  that  ineffable  place  of  Paul,  that 
proper  ubi  of  spirits.  The  smattering  I  have 
of  the  philosopher's  stone  (which  is  something 
more  than  the  perfect  exaltation  of  gold)  hath 
taught  me  a  great  deal  of  divinity,  and  instruct- 
ed my  belief,  how  that  immortal  spirit  and 
incorruptible  substance  of  my  soul  may  lie  ob- 
scure, and  sleep  a  while  within  this  house  of 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  79 

flesh.*  Those  strange  and  mystical  transmigra- 
tions that  I  have  observed  in  silkworms,  turned 
my  philosophy  into  divinity.  There  is  in  these 
works  of  nature,  which  seem  to  puzzle  reason, 
something  divine,  and  hath  more  in  it  than  the 
eye  of  a  common  spectator  doth  discover. 

XL.  I  am  naturally  bashful;  nor  hath  con-  Death  to  be 
versation,  age,  or  travel  been  able  to  efFront  rather  than 
or  enharden  me ;  yet  I  have  one  part  of  mod-  fe*red- 
esty  which  I  have  seldom  discovered  in  anoth- 
er, that  is,  (to  speak  truly,)  I  am  not  so 
much  afraid  of  death,  as  ashamed  thereof:  'tis 
the  very  disgrace  and  ignominy  of  our  natures, 
that  in  a  moment  can  so  disfigure  us,  that  our 
nearest  friends,  wife,  and  children,  stand  afraid 
and  start  at  us.  The  birds  and  beasts  of  the 
field,  that  before  in  a  natural  fear  obeyed  us, 
forgetting  all  allegiance,  begin  to  prey  upon  us. 
This  very  conceit  hath  in  a  tempest  disposed 
and  left  me  willing  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the 
abyss  of  waters,  wherein  I  had  perished  unseen, 
unpitied,  without  wondering  eyes,  tears  of  pity, 
lectures  of  mortality,  and  none  had  said,  Quan- 
tum mutatus  ah  Mo!  Not  that  I  am  ashamed 
of  the  anatomy  of  my  parts,  or  can  accuse  nature 
for  playing  the  bungler  in  any  part  of  me,  or 
my  own  vicious  life  for  contracting  any  shame- 

*  Compare  Wordsworth's  Ode,  "  Intimations  of  Immortality," 
especially  stanza  v. 


desired. 


80  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

ful  disease  upon  me,  whereby  I  might  not  call 
myself  as  wholesome  a  morsel  for  the  worms  as 
any. 
Posthu-  XLI.  Some,  upon  the  courage  of  a  fruitful 

mous  famo    .  1  , 

not  to  be  issue,  wherein,  as  in  the  truest  chronicle,  they 
seem  to  outlive  themselves,  can  with  greater 
patience  away  with  death.  This  conceit  and 
counterfeit  subsisting  in  our  progenies  seems 
to  me  a  mere  fallacy,  unworthy  the  desires  of  a 
man  that  can  but  conceive  a  thought  of  the 
next  world;  who,  in  a  nobler  ambition,  should 
desire  to  live  in  his  substance  in  heaven,  rather 
than  his  name  and  shadow  in  tho  earth.  (  And 
therefore  at  my  death  I  mean  to  take  a  total 
adieu  of  the  world,  not  caring  for  a  monument, 
history,  or  epitaph,  not  so  much  as  the  bare 
memory  of  my  name  to  be  found  anywhere,  but 
in  the  universal  register  of  GodJ  I  am  not  yet 
so  cynical  as  to  approve  the  testament  of  Dio- 
genes i*  nor  do  altogether  follow  that  rodomon- 
tado  of  Lucan: 

Qzlo  iegitur,  qui  non  habet  urnam. 

Phars.  vii.  819. 

He  that  unburied  lies  wants  not  his  herse, 
For  unto  him  a  tomb  's  the  universe. 

but  commend,   in  my  calmer  judgment,  those 
ingenuous  intentions  that  desire  to  sleep  by  the 

*  Who  willed  his  friend  not  to  bury  him,  but  hang  him  up 
with  a  staff  in  his  hand  to  fright  away  the  crows. 


7 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  81 

urns  -of  their  fathers,  and  strive  to  go  the  neat- 
est way  unto  corruption.  I  do  not  envy  the 
temper  of  crows  and  daws,*  nor  the  numerous 
and  weary  days  of  our  fathers  before  the  flood. 
If  there  be  any  truth  in  astrology,  I  may  out- 
live a  jubilee ;  as  yet  I  have  not  seen  one  revo- 
lution of  Saturn,  nor  hath  my  pulse  beat  thirty 
years ;  and  yet,  excepting  one,  f  have  seen  the 
ashes  of  and  left  under  ground  all  the  Kings 
of  Europe  4  have  been  contemporary  to  three 
Emperors,  four  Grand  Signiors,  and  as  many 
Popes.  J  Methinks  I  have  outlived  myself,  and 
begin,  to  be  weary  of  the  sun :  I  have  shaken 
hands  with  delight  in  my  warm  blood  and  canic- 
ular days :  I  perceive  I  do  anticipate  the  vices 
of  age  ;  the  world  to  me  is  but  a  dream  or  mock 
show,  and  we  all  therein  but  pantaloons  and 
antics,  to  my  severer  contemplations. 

XLII.  It  is  not,  I  confess,  an  unlawful  prayer  Length  of 
to  desire  to  surpass  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  or  ?ays  n0\t0 

.  .     *  7  be  prayed 

wish  to  outlive  that  age  wherein  he  thought  for, 

*  As  Theophrastus  did,  who,  dying,  accused  nature  for  giving 
them,  to  whom  it  could  be  of  no  use^  so  long  a  life,  while  she 
granted  so  short  a  one  to  man.  Cf.  Cic.  Tusc.  Disp.  iii.  69.  An 
extreme  longevity  was  ascribed  to  these  birds. 

t  Excepting  one ;  Christiern  IV.,  King  of  Denmark,  who  died 
1647.  — 

|  These  were  Kodolph  II.,  Matthias,  and  Ferdinand  II.,  Em- 
perors of  Germany  ;  Achmet  I.,  Mustapha  I.,  Othman  II.,  and 
Amurath  IV.,  Grand  Signiors  ;  Leo  XL?  Paul  V.,  Gregory  XV., 
and  Urban  VIIL,  Popes. 


82  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

fittest  to  die ;  yet  if  (as  divinity  affirms)  there 
shall  be  no  gray  hairs  in  heaven,  but  all  shall 
rise  in  the  perfect  state  of  men,  we  do  but  out- 
live those  perfections  in  this  world,  to  be  re- 
called unto  them  by  a  greater  miracle  in  the 
next,  and  run  on  here  but  to  be  retrograde 
hereafter.  Were  there  any  hopes  to  outlive 
vice,  or  a  point  to  be  superannuated  from  sin, 
it  were  worthy  our  knees  to  implore  the  days 
for  age    0f  Methuselah.  /But  age  doth  not  rectify,  but 

doth  but    .  **  &  ,,,... 

increase  jmcurvate  our  natures,  turning  bad  dispositions 
ourvices-/mto  worser  habits,  and  (like  diseases)  brings 
»-  on  incurable  vices ;  for  every  day  as  we  grow 
weaker  in  age,  we  grow  stronger  in  sini  and 
the  number  of  our  days  doth  but  make  our  sins 
innumerable.  The  same  vice  committed  at  six- 
teen, is  not  the  same,  though  it  agrees  in  all 
other  circumstances,  as  at  forty,  but  swells  and 
doubles  from  the  circumstance  of  our  ages ; 
wherein,  besides  the  constant  and  inexcusable 
habit  of  transgressing,  the  maturity  of  our  judge- 
ment cuts  off  pretence  unto  excuse  or  pargUn : 
every  sin  the  oftener  it  is  committed,  the  more 
it  acquireth  in  the  quality  of  evil;  as  it  suc- 
ceeds in  time,  so  it  proceeds  in  degrees  of  bad- 
ness ;  for  as  they  proceed  they  ever  multiply, 
and,  like  figures  in  arithmetic,  the  last  stands 
for  more  than  all  that  went  before  it.  And 
though  I  think  that  no  man  can  live  well  once 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  83 

but  he  that  could  live  twice,  yet  for  my  own 
part  I  would  not  live  over  my  hours  past,  or 
begin  again  the  thread  of  my  days  :  not  upon 
Cicero's  ground,  because  I  have  lived  them 
well**  but  for  fear  I  should  live  them  worse. 
I  find  my  growing  judgment  daily  instruct 
me  how  to  be  better,  but  my  untamed  affec- 
tions and  confirmed  vitiosity  makes  me  daily  do 
worse  i  I  find  in  my  confirmed  age  the  same 
sins  I  discovered  in  my  youth  ;  I  committed 
many  then,  because  I  was  a  child ;  and  because 
I  commit  them  still,  I  am  yet  an  infant.  There- 
fore I  perceive  a  man  may  be  twice  a  child, 
before  the  days  of  dotage.;  and  stand  in  need 
of  JEson's  bath  f  before  threescore. 

XLIII.   And  truly  there  goes  a  great  deal  a  special 
of  providence   to    produce   a.   man's   life  unt%  J™^*06 
threescore  :    there   is   m$re   required   than   an  our  lives. 
able  temper  for  those  years ;  though .  the  rad- 
ical humour  contain  in  it  sufficient  oil  for  sev- 
enty, yet  I  perceive  in  some  it  gives.no  light 
past  thirty :   men  assign  not#  all  the  causes  of 
long  life  that  write  whole  books  thereof.     They 

*  I  suppose  he  alludes  to  an  expression  in  an  Epistle  of  Cicero, 
written  in  his  exile,  to  his  wife  and  children,  where  he  hath  these 
words  to  his  wife :  Quod  reliquum  est,  te  sustenta,  mea  Terentia,  ut 
potes;  honestissime  viximus,  jloruimus.  Non  vitium  nostimm  sed  vir- 
tus nostra  nos  a-fflixit :  peccatum  est  nullum,  nisi  quod  non  una  ani- 
mam  cum  ornamentis  amisimus.  L.  xiii.  Ep.  55.  Cf.  Cic.  De 
Senectute,  xxiii. 

t  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  176. 


84  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

that  found  themselves  on  the  radical  balsam, 
or  vital  sulphur  of  the  parts,  determine  not 
why  Abel  lived  not  so  long  as  Adam.  There 
is  therefore  a  secret  glome  or  bottom  of  our 
days :  't  was  His  wisdom  to  determine  them, 
but  his  perpetual  and  waking  providence  that 
fulfils  and  accomplisheth  them,  wherein  the  spir- 
its, ourselves,  and  all  the  creatures  of  God  in 
a  secret  and  disputed  way  do  execute  Ms  will. 
Let  them  not  therefore  complain  of  immaturity 
that  die  about  thirty ;  they  fall  but  like  the 
whole  world,  whose  solid  and  well-composed 
substance  must  not  expect  the  duration  and 
period  of  its  constitution  :  when  all  tilings  are 
completed  in  it,  its  age  is  accomplished  ;  and 
the  last  and  general  fever  may  as  naturally 
destroy  it  before  six  thousand,  as  me  before 
forty.  There  is  therefore  some  other  hand 
that  twines  the  thread  of  life  than  that  of 
nature :  we  are  not  only  ignorant  in  antipathies 
and  occult  qualities ;  our  ends  are  as  obscure 
as  our  beginnings  ;  the  line  of  our  days  is 
drawn  by  night,  and  the  various  effects  therein 
by  a  pencil  that  is  invisible,  wherein,  though 
we  confess  our  ignorance,  I  am  sure  we  do  not 
err  if  we  say  it  is  the  hand  of  God. 
Tho'  death      XLIV.   I  am  much  taken  with  two  verses 

is  to  be  de- 
sired, yet    of  Lucan,  since  I  have  been  able  not  only,  as 

unlawful!    we  d°  at  school,  to  construe,  but  understand : 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  85 

Victurosque  Dei  celant,  ut  vivere  durent, 
Felix  esse  mori.     Pharsalia,  iv.  519. 

We  're  all  deluded,  vainly  searching  ways 
To  make  us  happy  by  the  length  of  days ; 
For  cunningly  to  make  's  protract  this  breath, 
The  gods  conceal  the  happiness  of  death. 

There  be  many  excellent  strains  in  that  poet, 
wherewith  his  Stoical  genius  hath  liberally  sup- 
plied him ;  and  truly  there  are  singular  pieces 
in  the  philosophy  of  Zeno,  and  doctrine  of  the 
Stoics,  which  I  perceive  delivered  in  a  pulpit 
pass  for  current  divinity:  yet  herein  are  they 
in  extremes,  that  can  allow  a  man  to  be  his 
own  assassin,  arid  so  highly  extol  the  end  and 
suicide  of  Cato  ;  this  is  indeed  not  to  fear  death, 
but  yet  to  be  afraid  of  life^  It  is  a  brave  act 
of  valour  to  contemn  death  ;  but  where  life  is 
more  terrible  than  death,  it  is  then  the  truest 
valour  to  dare  to  live :  and  herein  religion  hath 
taught  us  a  noble  example ;  for  all  the  valiant 
acts  of  Curtms,  Scaevola,  or  Codrus  do  not 
parallel  or  match  that  one  of  Job;  and  sure 
there  is  no  torture  to  the  rack  of  a  disease,  nor 
any  poniards  in  death  itself,  like  those  in  the 
way  or  prologue  unto  it.  Emori  nolo,  sed  me 
esse  mortuum  nihil  cestumo*  I  would  not  die, 
but  care  not  to  be  dead.  Were  I  of  Caesar's 
religion,  I  should  be  of  his  desires,  and  wish 

*  Cic.  Tusc.  Disp.  i.  8. 


86  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

raEher  to  go  off  at  one  blow,  than  to  be  sawed 
in  pieces  by  the  grating  torture  of  a  disease. 
Men  that  look  no  farther  than  their  outsides, 
think  health  an  appurtenance  unto  life,  and 
quarrel  with  their  constitutions  for  being  sick ; 
but  I  that  have  examined  the  parts  of  man,  and 
know  upon  what  tender  filaments  that  fabric 
hangs,  do  wonder  that  we  are  not  always  so ; 
and  considering  the  thousand  doors  that  lead  to 
death,  do  thank  my  God  that  we  can  die  but 
once.*  'T  is  not  only  the  mischief  of  diseases, 
and  the  villany  of  poisons,  that  make  an  end 
of  us :  we  vainly  accuse  the  fury  of  guns,  and 
the  new  inventions  of  death ;  it  is  in  the  power 
of  every  hand  to  destroy  us,  and  we  are  behold- 
ing unto  every  one  we  meet,  he  doth  not  kill 
us.  There  is  therefore  but  one  comfort  left, 
that  though  it  be  in  the  power  of  the  weakest 
arm  to  take  away  life,  it  is  not  in  the  strongest 
to  deprive  us  of  death ;  God  would  not  exempt 
himself  from  that ;  the  misery  of  immortality 
in  the  flesh  He  undertook  not,  that  was,  in  it, 
immortal.  ;  Certainly  there  is  no  happiness  with- 
in this  circle  of  flesh,  nor  is  it .  in  the  Optics 
of  these  eyes  to  behold  felicity  A  ^The  first  day 

*  "  Strange  that  a  harp  of  thousand  strings 
Should  keep  in  tune  so  long !  " 
Ps.  cxxxix.  14.     "I  will  praise  thee;  for  I  am  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made." 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  87 

of  our  jubilee  is  death ;  the  devil  hath  therefore 
failed  of  his  desires :  we  are  happier  with  death 
than  we  should  have  been  without  it  ij  there  is 
no  misery  but  in  himself,  where  there  is  no  end 
of  misery ;  and  so  indeed,  in  his  own  sense,  the 
Stoic  is  in  the  right.  He  forgets  that  he  can 
die  who  complains  of  misery ;  we  are  in  the 
power  of  no  calamity  while  death  is  in  our 
own. 

XLV.   Now  besides  this  literal  and  positive  Death  the 
kind  of  death,  there  are  others  whereof  divines  JJJ^  ™ 
make  mention,  and  those   I  think  not  merely  p*88  *°  im- 
metaphorical,  as  mortification,  dying  unto  sin  m 
and   the  world j  therefore,   I   say,   every  man 
hath  a  double  horoscope,  one  of  his  humanity, 
his  birth ;  another  of  his  Christianity,  his  bap- 
tism ;  and  from  this  do  I  compute  or.  calculate 
my  nativity,  not  reckoning  those  horce  combustce 
and  odd  days,  or  esteeming  myself  anything,  £""^ 
before  I  was  my  Saviour's,  and  inrolled  in  the 
register  of  Christ :  whosoever  enjoys  not  this 
life,  I  count  him  but  an  apparition,  though  he 
wear  about  him  the  sensible  affections  of  flesh. 
In  these  moral  acceptions,  the  way  to  be  im- 
mortal is  to  die  daily ;  nor  can  I  think  I  have 
the  true  theory  of  death,  when  I  contemplate 
a  skull,  or  behold  a  skeleton,  with  those  vulgar 
imaginations  it  casts  upon  us :  I  have  therefore 
enlarged    that   common   memento   mori  into   a 


88  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

more  Christian  memorandum,  memento  quatuor 
novisrima,  those  four  inevitable  points  of  us  all, 
Death,  Judgment,  Heaven-,  and  Hell.  Nei- 
ther did  the  contemplations  of  the  heathens  rest 
in  their  graves,  without  a  further  thought  of 
Rhadamanth  or  some  judicial  proceeding  after 
death,  though  in  another  way,  and  upon  sug- 
gestion of  their  natural  reasons.  I  cannot  but 
marvel  from  what  sibyl  or  oracle  they  stole  the 
prophecy  of  the  world's  destruction  by  fire,  or 
whence  Lucan  learned  to  say, 

Communis  mundo  superest  rogus,  ossibus  astro, 
Mixturus Pharsalia,  vii.  814. 

There  yet  remains  to  th'  world  one  common  fire, 
Wherein  our  bones  with  stars  shall  make  one  pyre. 

I  believe  the  world  grows  near  its  end,  yet  is 
neither  old  nor  decayed,  nor  will  ever  perish 
upon  the  ruins  of  its  own  principles.*  As  the 
work  of  creation  was  above  nature,  so  its  ad- 
versary, annihilation ;  without  which  the  world 
hath  not  its  end,  but  its  mutation.     Now.  what 

*  The  Author  of  nature  has  not  given  laws  to  the  universe, 
which,  like  the  institutions  of  men,  carry  in  themselves  the  ele- 
ments of  their  own  destruction.  He  has  not  permitted  in  his 
works  any  symptom  of  infancy  or  old  age,  or  any  sign  by  which 
we  may  estimate  either  their  future  or  their  past  duration.  He 
may  put  an  end,  as  he  no  doubt  gave  a  beginning,  to  the  present 
system  at  some  determinate  period  of  time;  but  we  may  rest 
assured  that  this  great  catastrophe  will  not  be  brought  about  by 
the  laws  now  existing,  and  that  it  is  not  indicated  by  anything 
which  we  perceive.  —  Playfair's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  55. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  89 

force  should  be  able  to  consume  it  thus  far, 
without  the  breath  of  God,  which  is  the  truest 
consuming  flame,  my  philosophy  cannot  inform 
me.  Some  believe  there  went  not  a  minute  to 
the  world's  creation,  nor  shall  there  go  to  its 
destruction ;  those  six  days  so  punctually  de-  Gen.  i. 
scribed  make  not  to  them  one  moment,  but 
rather  seem  to  -manifest  the  method  and  idea 
of  that  great  work  in  the  intellect  of  God,  than 
the  manner  how  he  proceeded  in  its  operation. 
I  cannot  dream  that  there  should  be  at  the  last 
day  any  such  judicial  proceeding,  or  calling  to 
the  bar,  as  indeed  the  Scripture  seems  to  imply, 
and  the  literal  commentators  do  conceive :  for 
unspeakable  mysteries  in  the  Scriptures  are  of- 
ten delivered  in  a  vulgar  and  illustrative  way ; 
and  being,  written  unto  man,  are  delivered,  not 
as  they  truly  are,  but  as  they  may  be  under- 
stood; wherein,  notwithstanding,  the  different 
interpretations  according  to  different  capacities 
may  stand  firm  with  our  devotion,  nor  be  any 
way  prejudicial  to  each  single  edification. 

XLYI.  Now  to  determine  the  day  and  year 
of  this  inevitable  time  is  not  only  convincible  , 
and  statute-madness,  but  also  manifest  impiety. 
How  shall  we  interpret  Elias's  six  thousand 
years,  or  imagine  the  secret  communicated  to  a 
rabbi,  which  God  hath  denied  unto  his  angels  ?  st  Matt* 

°  xxiv.  30. 

It  had  been  an  excellent  quaere  to  have  posed 


St  Matt. 
xxiv.  11- 


90  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

the  devil  of  Delplios,  and  must  needs  have 
forced  him  to  some  strange  amphibology:  it 
hath  not  only  mocked  the  predictions  of  sundry 
astrologers  in  ages  past,  but  the  prophecies  of 
many  melancholy  heads  in  these  present ;  who, 
neither  understanding  reasonably  things  past  or 
present,  pretend  a  knowledge  of  things  to  come  : 
heads  ordained  only  to  manifest  the  incredible 
effects  of  melancholy,  and  to  fulfil  old  prophecies 
24.  rather  than  be  authors  of  new.     In  those  days 

st.  Matt,  there  shall  come  wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  to  me 
sTIiark  seems  no  prophecy,  but  a  constant  truth  in  all 
"*■ 7-  times  verified  since  it  was  pronounced.  There 
st.  Luke  shall  be  signs  in  the  moon  and  stars ;  how  comes 
he  then  like  a  thief  in  the  night,  when  he  gives 
an  item  of  his  coming?  That  common  sign 
drawn  from  the  revelation  of  antichrist  is  as 
obscure  as  any:  in  our  common  compute  he 
hath  been  come  these  many  years :  for  my  own 
part,  to  speak  freely,  I  am  half  of  opinion  that 
antichrist  is  the  philosopher's  stone  in  divinity, 
for  the  discovery  and  invention  whereof,  though 
there  be  prescribed  rules  and  probable  induc- 
tions, yet  hath  hardly  any  man  attained  the 
perfect  discovery  thereof.  That  general  opin- 
ion that  the  world  grows  near  its  end,  hath 
possessed  all  ages  past  as  nearly  as  ours :  I  am 
afraid  that  the  souls  that  now  depart,  cannot 
escape  that  lingering  expostulation  of  the  saints 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  91 

under  the  altar,  Quousque  Domine  f  How  long,  Rev.  vi.  9, 
O  Lord ;  and  groan  in  the  expectation  of  the  10* 
great  jubilee. 

XLVIL  This  is  the  day  that  must  make  The  day  of 
good  that  great  attribute  of  God,  his  justice ; JU  gment' 
that  must  reconcile  those  unanswerable  doubts 
that  torment  the  wisest  understandings ;  and 
reduce  those  seeming  inequalities  and  respec- 
tive distributions  in  this  world  to  an  equality 
and  recompensive  justice  in  the  next.  This  is 
that  one  day,  that  shall  include  and  comprehend 
all  that  went  before  it ;  wherein,  as  in  the  last 
scene,  all  the  actors  must  enter  to  complete  and 
make  up  the  catastrophe  of  this  great  piece. 
This  is  the  day  whose  memory  hath  only  power 
to  make  us  honest  in  the  dark,  and  to  be  virtu- 
ous without  a  witness.  Ipsa  sues  jpretium  virtus 
sibi  —  that  virtue  is  her  own  reward,  is  but  a 
cold  principle,  and  not  able  to  maintain  our 
variable  resolutions  in  a  constant  and  settled 
way  of  goodness.  I  have  practised  that  honest 
artifice  of  Seneca,  and  in  my  retired  and  solitary 
imaginations,  to  detain  me  from  the  foulness  of 
vice,  have  fancied  to  myself  the  presence  of 
my  dear  and  worthiest  friends,  before  whom  I 
should  lose  my  head,  rather  than  be  vicious  :  yet 
herein  I  found  that  there  was  naught  but  moral 
honesty,  and  this  was  not  to  be  virtuous  for  His 
sake  who  must  reward  us  at  the  last.     I  have 


^ 


92  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

tried  if  I  could  reach  that  great  resolution  of 
his,  to  be  honest  without  a  thought  of  heaven 
or  hell:  and  indeed  I  found  upon  a  natural 
inclination,  and  inbred  loyalty  unto  virtue,  that 
I  could  serve  her  without  a  livery ;  yet  not  in 
that  resolved  and  venerable  way,  but  that  the 
frailty  of  my  nature,  upon  an  easy  temptation, 
might  be  induced  to  forget  her.  The  life  there- 
fore and  spirit  of  all  our  actions  is  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  a  stable  apprehension  that  our  ashes 
shall  enjoy  the  fruit  of  our  pious  endeavours : 
without  this,  all  religion  is  a  fallacy,  and  those 
impieties  of  Lucian,  Euripides,  and  Julian  are 
no  blasphemies,  but  subtle  verities,  and  atheists 
have  been  the  only  philosophers. 
The  resur-  XLVIII.  How  shall  the  dead  arise  ?  is  no 
thedead  question  of  my  faith  ;  to  believe  only  possibili- 
1  cor. xv.  ties  is  not  faith,  but  mere  philosophy:  many 
things  are  true  in  divinity,  which  are  neither 
inducible  by  reason  nor  confirmable  by  sense  ; 
and  many  things  in  philosophy  confirmable  by 
sense,  yet  not  inducible  by  reason.  Thus  it  is 
impossible  by  any  solid  or  demonstrative  reasons 
to  persuade  a  man  to  believe  the  conversion  of 
the  needle  to  the  north ;  though  this  be  possi- 
ble, and  true,  and  easily  credible,  upon  a  single 
experiment  unto  the  sense.  I  believe  that  our 
estranged  and  divided  ashes  shall  unite  again  ; 
that  our  separated  dust,  after  so  many  pilgrim- 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  93 

ages  and  transformations  into  the  parts  of  min- 
erals, plants,  animals,  elements,  shall  at  the 
voice  of  God  return  into  their  primitive  shapes, 
and  join  again  to  make  np  their  primary  and 
predestinate  forms.  As  at  the  creation  there 
was  a  separation  of  that  confused  mass  into  its 
species  ;  so  at  the  destruction  thereof  there  shall 
be  a  separation  into  its  distinct  individuals.  As 
at  the  creation  of  the  world,  all  the  distinct 
species  that  we  behold  lay  involved  in  one  mass, 
till  the  fruitful  voice  of  God  separated  this  united 
multitude  into  its  several  species  ;  so  at  the  last 
day,  when  these  corrupted  reliques  shall  be  scat- 
tered in  the  wilderness  of  forms,  and  seem  to 
have  forgot  their  proper  habits,  God  by  a  pow- 
erful voice  shall  command  them  back  into  their 
proper  shapes,  and  call  them  out  by  their  single 
individuals :  then  shall  appear  the  fertility  of 
Adam,  and  the  magic  of  that  sperm  that  hath 
dilated  into  so  many  millions.*  I  have  often  Types  of 
beheld  as  a  miracle  that  artificial  resurrection  rJ't^ur" 
and  revivification  of  Mercury,  how,  being  mor- 
tified into  a  thousand  shapes,  it  assumes  again 

*  What  is  made  to  be  immortal,  nature  cannot,  nor  will  the 
voice  of  God,  destroy.  Those  bodies  that  we  behold  to  perish, 
were  in  their  created  natures  immortal,  and  liable  unto  death 
only  accidentally,  and  upon  forfeit;  and  therefore  they  owe  not 
that  natural  homage  unto  death  as  other  bodies  do,  but  may  be 
restored  to  immortality  with  a  lesser  miracle,  and  by  a  bare  and 
easy  revocation  of  course,  return  immortal.    Edits.  1642. 


94  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

its  own,  and  returns  into  its  numerical  self.  Let 
us  speak  naturally  and  like  philosophers  :  the 
forms  of  alterable  bodies  in  these  sensible  cor- 
ruptions perish  not ;  nor,  as  we  imagine,  whol- 
ly quit  their  mansions,  but  retire  and  contract 
themselves  into  their  secret  and  unaccessible 
parts,  where  they  may  best  protect  themselves 
from  the  action  of  their  antagonist.  A  plant 
or  vegetable  consumed  to  ashes,  to  a  contem- 
plative and  school-philosopher  seems  utterly  de- 
stroyed, and  the  form  to  have  taken  his  leave 
forever ;  but  to  a  sensible  artist  the  forms  are 
not  perished,  but  withdrawn  into  their  incom- 
bustible part,  where  they  lie  secure  from  the 
action  of  that  devouring  element.  This  is  made 
good  by  experience,  which  can  from  the  ashes 
of  a  plant  revive  the  plant,  and  from  its  cinders 
recall  it  into  its  stalk  and  leaves  again.*    What 

*  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  thus  describes  the  beautiful  experiment, 
called,  from  the  Greek,  Palingenesis :  — 

u  Quercetanus,  the  famous  physician  of  King  Henry  the  Fourth, 
tells  us  a  wonderful  story  of  a  Polonian  doctor,  that  showed  him 
a  dozen  glasses  hermetically  sealed,  in  each  of  which  was  a  dif- 
ferent plant :  for  example,  a  rose  in  one,  a  tulip  in  another,  a 
clove  gilly-flower  in  a  third,  and  so  of  the  rest.  When  he  offered 
these  glasses  to  your  first  view,  you  saw  nothing  in  them  but  a 
heap  of  ashes  in  the  bottom.  As  soon  as  he  held  some  gentle 
heat  under  any  of  them,  presently  there  arose  out  of  the  ashes 
the  idea  of  a  flower  and  the  stalk  belonging  to  those  ashes,  and  it 
would  shoot  up  and  spread  abroad  to  the  due  height  and  just 
dimensions  of  such  a  flower,  and  had  perfect  colour,  shape,  mag- 
nitude, and  all  other  accidents,  as  if  it  really  were  that  very 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  95 

the  art  of  man  can  do  in  these  inferior  pieces, 
what  blasphemy  is  it  to  affirm  the  finger  of 
God  cannot  do  in  these  more  perfect  and  sen- 
sible structures  !  This  is  that  mystical  philoso- 
phy, from  whence  no  true  scholar  becomes  an 
atheist,  but  from  the  visible  effects  of  nature 
grows  up  a  real  divine,  and  beholds  not  in  a 
dream,  as  Ezekiel,  but  in  an  ocular  and  visible 
object,  the  types  of  his  resurrection. 

XLIX.    Now  the  necessary  mansions  of  our  Heaven,  or 
restored  selves  are  those  two  contrary  and  in-  -^^^^ 
compatible  places  we  call  heaven  and  hell:  to  ^ 
define  them,  or  strictly  to  determine  what  and 
where  these  are,  surpasseth  my  divinity.     That 
elegant  apostle  which  seemed  to  have  a  glimpse 
of  heaven,  hath  left  but  a  negative  description 
thereof :  which  neither  eye  hath  seen,  nor  ear  hath  1  cor.  u.  9. 
heard,  nor  can  enter  into  the  heart  of  man :  he  Is" Mv* 4' 
was  translated  out  of  himself  to  behold  it;  but 
being  returned  into  himself  could  not  express  it. 
St.  John's  description  by  emeralds,  chrysolites,  Rev.  xxi. 
and  precious  stones,  is  too  weak  to  express  the 

flower.  But  whenever  you  drew  the  heat  from  it,  would  this 
flower  sink  down  by  little  and  little,  till  at  length  it  would  bury 
itself  in  its  bed  of  ashes.  And  thus  it  would  do  as  often  as  you 
exposed  it  to  moderate  heat,  or  withdrew  it  from  it.  I  confess  it 
would  be  no  small  delight  to  me  to  see  this  experiment,  with  all 
the  circumstances  that  Quercetan  sets  down.  Athanasius  Kir- 
cherus,  at  Rome,  assured  me  that  he  had  done  it;  and  gave  me 
the  process  of  it.  But  no  industry  of  mine  could  effect  it."  — 
Treatise  on  the  Vegetation  of  Plants. 


96  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

material  heaven  we  behold.  Briefly,  therefore, 
where  the  soul  hath  the  full  measure  and  com- 
plement of  happiness ;  where  the  boundless  ap- 
petite of  that  spirit  remains  completely  satisfied, 
that  it  can  neither  desire  addition  nor  alteration ; 
that,  I  think,  is  truly  Heaven :  and  this  can 
only  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  essence,  whose 
infinite  goodness  is  able  to  terminate  the  desires 
of  itself,  and  the  unsatiable  wishes  of  ours : 
wherever  God  will  thus  manifest  himself,  there 
is  heaven,  though  within  the  circle  of  this  sen- 
sible world.  |  Thus  the  soul  of  man  may  be 
in  heaven  anywhere,  even  within  the  limits  of 
his  own  proper  body  ;  and  when  it  ceaseth  to 
live  in  the  body,  it  may  remain  in  its  own  soul, 
that  is,  its  Creator.  And  thus  we  may  say 
2  cor.  xii.  that  St.  Paul,  whether  in  the  body  or  out  of 
the  body,  was  yet  in  heaven.  To  place  it  in 
'the  empyreal,  or  beyond  the  tenth  sphere,  is 
to  forget  the  world's  destruction  ;  for  when  this 
sensible  world  shall  be  destroyed,  all  shall  then 
be  here  as  it  is  now  there,  an  empyreal  heaven, 
a  quasi  vacuity ;  when  to  ask  where  heaven  is, 
is  to  demand  where  the  presence  of  God  is,  or 
where  we  have  the  glory  of  that  happy  vision. 
Moses,  that  was  bred  up  in  all  the  learning  of 
the  ^Egyptians,  committed  a  gross  absurdity  in 
Ex.  xxxiii.  philosophy,  when  with  these  eyes  of  flesh  he 
desired  to  see  God,  and  petitioned  his  Maker, 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  97 

that  is,  Truth  itself,  to  a  contradiction.  Those 
that  imagine  heaven  and  hell  neighbours,  and 
conceive  a  vicinity  between  those  two  extremes, 
upon  consequence  of  the  parable,  where  Dives  st.Luke 
discoursed  with  Lazarus  in  Abraham's  bosom,  x 
do  too  grossly  conceive  of  those  glorified  crea- 
tures, whose  eyes  shall  easily  outsee  the  sun, 
and  behold  without  a  perspective  the  extremest 
distances  :  for  if  there  shall  be  in  our  glorified 
eyes  the  faculty  of  sight  and  reception  of  ob- 
jects, I  could  think  the  visible  species  there 
to  be  in  as  unlimitable  a  way,  as  now  the  in- 
tellectual. I  grant  that  two  bodies  placed  be- 
yond the  tenth  sphere,  or  in  a  vacuity,  accord- 
ing to  Aristotle's  philosophy,  could  not  behold 
each  other,  because  there  wants  a  body  or 
medium  to  hand  and  transport  the  visible  rays 
of  the  object  unto  the  sense  ;  but  when  there 
shall  be  a  general  defect  of  either  medium  to 
convey,  or  light  to  prepare  and  dispose  that 
medium,  and  yet  a  perfect  vision,  we  must 
suspend  the  rules  of  our  philosophy,  and  make 
all  good  by  a  more  absolute  piece  of  optics. 

L.  I  cannot  tell  how  to  say  that  fire  is  the  of  Fire  as 
essence  of  hell :  I  know  not  what  to  make  of  aest™- " 
purgatory,  or  conceive  a  flame  that  can  either  tion- 
prey  upon,  or  purify  the  substance  of  a  soul : 
those  flames  pf  sulphur  mentioned  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, I  take  not  to  be  understood  of  this  present 
7 


98  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

hell,  but  of  that  to  come,  where  fire  shall  make 
up  the  complement  of  our  tortures,  and  have  a 
body  or  subject  wherein  to  manifest  its  tyranny. 
Some  who  have  had  the  honour  to  be  textuary 
in  divinity,  are  of  opinion  it  shall  be  the  same 
specifical  fire  with  ours.  This  is  hard  to  con- 
ceive ;  yet  can  I  make  good  how  even  that  may 
prey  upon  our  bodies,  and  yet  not  consume  us  : 
for  in  this  material  world  there  are  bodies  that 
persist  invincible  in  the  powerfullest  flames ; 
and  though  by  the  action  of  fire  they  fall  into 
ignition  and  liquation,  yet  will  they  never  suffer 
a  destruction.  I  would  gladly  know  how  Moses 
Exod.       with  an  actual  fire  calcined  or  burnt  the  golden 

xxxii.  20.         __  .  .  •      i     ■  i       » 

calf  unto  powder :  for  that  mystical  metal  of 
gold,  whose  solary  and  celestial  nature  I  admire, 
exposed  unto  the  violence  of  fire,  grows  only 
hot  and  liquefies,  but  consumeth  *  not ;  so  when 
the  consumable  and  volatile  pieces  of  our  bodies 
shall  be  refined  into  a  more  impregnable  and 
fixed  temper,  like  gold,  though  they  suffer  from 
the  actions  of  flames,  they  shall  never  perish, 
but  lie  immortal  in  the  arms  of  fire.  And 
surely,  if  this  frame  must  suffer  only  by  the 
action  of  this  element,  there  will  many  bodies 
escape ;  and  not  only  heaven  but  earth  will 
not  be  at  an  end,  but  rather  a  beginning.     For 

*  Moses  is  not  said  to  have  consumed  it,  but  to  have  ground  it 
to  powder. 


RELIGIO  MEDIC  fa  J  99     3  J  T  y  1 

Vv  O  A  0:F,  *  Vw 

at  present  it  is  not  earth,  but  a  composition  of 
fire,  water,  earth,  and  air  ;  but  at  tnlrfe 
spoiled  of  these  ingredients,  it  shall  appear  in  a 
substance  more  like  itself,  its  ashes.  Philoso- 
phers that,  opinioned  the  world's  destruction  by 
fire,  did  never  dream  of  annihilation,  which  is 
beyond  the  power  of  sublunary  causes ;  for  the 
last  and  proper  action  of  that  element  is  but 
vitrification,  or  a  reduction  of  a  body  into 
glass;  and  therefore  some  of  our  chymicks  fa- 
cetiously affirm,  that  at  the  last  fire  all  shall  be 
crystallized  and  reverberated  into  glass,  which 
is  the  utmost  action  of  that  element.  Nor  need 
we  fear  this  term,  annihilation,,  or  wonder  that 
God  will  destroy  the  works  of  his  creation ; 
for  man  subsisting,  who  is,  and  will  then  truly 
appear,  a  microcosm,  the  world  cannot  be  said 
to  be  destroyed.  For  the  eyes  of  God,  and 
perhaps  also  of  our  glorified  selves,  shall  as 
really  behold  and  contemplate  the  world  -in  its 
epitome  or  contracted  essence,  as  now  it  doth 
at  large  and  in  its  dilated  substance.  In  .the 
seed  of  a  plant  to  the  eyes  of  God,  and  to  the 
understanding  of  man,  there  exists,  though  in 
an  invisible  way,  the  perfect  leaves,  flowers, 
and  fruit  thereof;  for  things  that  are  in  posse 
to  the  sense,  are  actually  existent  to  the  under- 
standing. Thus  God  beholds  all  things,  who 
contemplates  as  fully  his  works  in-  their  epitome 


100  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

as  in  their  full  volume ;  and  beheld  as  amply 
the  whole  world  in  that  little  compendium  of 
the  sixth  day,  as  in  the  scattered  and  dilated 
pieces  of  those  five  before. 
The  heart      LI.  Men  commonly  set  forth  the   torments 

hl^i8  of  hel1  ty  fire'  and  the  extremity  of  corporal 
torment,  afflictions,  and  describe  hell  in  the  same  meth- 
od that  Mahomet  doth  heaven.  This  indeed 
makes  a  noise,  and  drums  in  popular  ears :  but 
if  this  be  the  terrible  piece  thereof,  it  is  not 
worthy  to  stand  in  diameter  with  heaven,  whose 
happiness  consists  in  that  part  that  is  best  able 
to  comprehend  it,  that  immortal  essence,  that 
translated  divinity  and  colony  of  God,  the  soul, 
Surely  though  we  place  hell  under  earth,  the 
devil's  walk  and  purlieu  is  about  it :  men  speak 
too  popularly  who  place  it  in  those  flaming 
mountains,  which  to  grosser  apprehensions  rep- 
resent hell.  vThe  heart  of  man  is  the  place  the 
devil,  dwells  in :  I  feel  sometimes  a  hell  within 
myself:  *)  Lucifer  keeps  his  court  in  my  breast, 
Legion  is  revived  in  me.  There  are  as  many 
hells,   as  Anaxarchus   conceited  worlds:  there 

*  So  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  i.  254,  — 

"  The  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself 
Can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven,"  — 

and  iv.  18.     So  also,  Tasso,  c.  xii.  st.  77. 

"  Swift  from  myself  I  run,  myself  I  fear, 
Yet  still  my  hell  within  myself  I  bear." 


REL1GI0  MEDICI.  101 

was  more  than  one  hell  in  Magdalene,  when 
there  were  seven  devils,  for  every  devil  is  an 
hell  unto  himself;  he  holds  enough  of  torture 
in  his  own  ubi,  and  needs  not  the  misery  of 
circumference  to  afflict  him;  and  thus  a  dis- 
tracted conscience  here  is  a  shadow  or  intro- 
duction unto  hell  hereafter.  Who  can  but  pity 
the  merciful  intention  of  those  hands  that  do 
destroy  themselves  ?  the  devil,  were  it  in  his 
power,  would  do  the  like ;  which  being  impos- 
sible, his  miseries  are  endless,  and  he  suffers 
most  in  that  attribute  wherein  he  is  impassible, 
his  immortality. 

LIL  I  thank  God,  and  with  joy  I  mention  contem- 
it,  I  was  never  afraid  of  hell,  nor  never  grew  £^°°of 
pale  at  the  description  of  that  place ;  I  have  so 
fixed  my  contemplations  on  heaven,  that  I  have 
almost   forgot  the  idea  of  hell,  and  am  afraid  Het>.  xu.  2. 
rather  to  lose  the  joys  of  the  one,  than  endure 
the  misery  of  the  other :  to  be  deprived  of  them  2  Esdr.  ix. 
is  a  perfect  hell,  and  needs,  me  thinks,  no  addi- 
tion to  complete  our  afflictions.     That  terrible 
term  hath  never  detained  me  from  sin,  nor  do 
I  owe  any  good  action  to  the  name  thereof.     I 
fear  God,  yet  am  not  afraid  of  him :  his  mercies 
make  me  ashamed  of  my  sins,  before  his  judg- 
ments afraid  thereof:  these  are  the  forced  and 
secondary   method    of    his   wisdom,    which    he 
useth  but  as  the  last  remedy,  and  upon  provo- 


102  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

cation:  a  course  rather  to  deter  the  wicked, 
than  incite  the  virtuous  to  his  worship.  I  can 
hardly  think  there  was  ever  any  scared  into 
heaven  ;  they  go  the  fairest  way  to  heaven  that 
would  serve  God  without  a  hell ;  other  merce- 
naries, that  crouch  unto  him  in  fear  of  hell, 
though  they  term  themselves  the  servants,  are 
indeed  but  the  slaves  of  the  Almighty.* 
Thejudg-        LIII.  And  to  be  true,  and   speak  my  soul, 

ments  of  '  1  J  ' 

God  to  be    when  I  survey  the  occurrences  of  my  life,  and 
proofs  of aS  cau  m*°  accoun*  the  finger  of  God,  I  can  per- 
affection.     ceive  nothing  but  an  abyss  and  mass  of  mercies, 
either  in  general  to  mankind,  or  in  particular  to 
myself:  and  whether  out  of  the  prejudice  of  my 
affection,  or  an  inverting  and  partial  conceit  of 
his  mercies,  I  know  not ;  but  those  which  others 
term  crosses,  afflictions,  judgments,  misfortunes, 
to  me  who  inquire  farther  into  them  than  their 
visible  effects,  they  both  appear,  and  in  event 
y  have  ever  proved,   the  secret   and   dissembled 
favours  of  his  affection.     It  is  a  singular  piece 
of  wisdom  to  apprehend  truly,  and  without  pas- 
sion, the  works  of  God,  and  so  well  to  distin- 
guish  his  justice   from   his   mercy,  as   not   to 

*  Excellent  throughout !  The  fear  of  hell  may  indeed  in  some 
desperate  cases,  like  the  moxa,  give  the  first  rouse  from  a  moral 
lethargy,  or  like  the  green  venom  of  copper,  by  evacuating  poison 
or  a  dead  load  from  the  inner  man,  prepare  it  for  nobler  ministra- 
tions and  medicines  from  the  realm  of  light  and  life,  that  nourish 
while  they  stimulate.     Coleridge. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  103 

miscall  those  noble  attributes :  yet  it  is  likewise 
an  honest  piece  of  logic,  so  to  dispute  and  argue 
the  proceedings  of  God,  as  to  distinguish  even 
his  judgments  into  mercies.  For  God  is  mer- 
ciful unto  all,  because  better  to  the  worst  than 
the  best  deserve ;  and  to  say  he  punisheth  none 
in  this  world,  though  it  be  a  paradox,  is  no 
absurdity.  To  one  that  hath  committed  mur- 
der, if  the  judge  should  only  ordain  a  fine,  it 
were  a  madness  to  call  this  a  punishment,  and 
to  repine  at  the  sentence,  rather  than  admire 
the  clemency  of  the  judge :  thus  our  offences 
being  mortal,  and  deserving  not  only  death,  but 
damnation,  if  the  goodness  of  God  be  content 
to  traverse  and  pass  them  over  with  a  loss,  mis- 
fortune, or  disease,  what  phrensy  were  it  to 
term  this  a  punishment,  rather  than  an  extrem- 
ity of  mercy,  and  to  groan  under  the  rod  of  his 
judgments,  rather  than  admire  the  sceptre  of 
his  mercies !  Therefore  to  adore,  honour,  and 
admire  him  is  a  debt  of  gratitude  due  from  the 
obligation  of  our  nature,  states,  and  conditions ; 
and  with  these  thoughts,  He  that  knows  them 
best  will  not  deny  that  I  adore  him.  That  I 
obtain  heaven,  and  the  bliss  thereof,  is  acci- 
dental, and  not  the  intended  work  of  my  devo- 
tion ;  it  being  a  felicity  I  can  neither  think  to 
deserve,  nor  scarce  in  modesty  to  expect.  For 
these  two  ends  of  us  all,  either  as  rewards  or 


104  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

punishments,  are  mercifully  ordained  and  dis- 
proportionably  disposed  unto  our  actions  ;  the 
one  being  so  far  beyond  our  deserts,  the  other 
so  infinitely  below  our  demerits. 
salvation  LIV.  There  is  no  salvation  to  those  that 
Christ  believe  not  in  Christ,  that  is,  say  some,  since 
alone,  j^g  nativity,  and,  as  divinity  affirmeth,  before 
also ;  which  makes  me  much  apprehend  the  end 
of  those  honest  worthies  and  philosophers  which 
died  before  his  incarnation.  It  is  hard  to  place 
those  souls  in  hell  whose  worthy  lives  do  teach 
us  virtue  on  earth ;  methinks,  amongst  those 
many  subdivisions  of  hell,  there  might  have 
been  one  limbo  left  for  these.  What  a  strange 
vision  will  it  be  to  see  their  poetical  fictions 
converted  into  verities,  and  their  imagined  and 
fancied  furies  into  real  devils  !  How  strange  to 
them  will  sound  the  history  of  Adam,  when 
they  shall  suffer  for  him  they  never  heard  of! 
when  they  that  derive  their  genealogy  from  the 
gods,  shall  know  they  are  the  unhappy  issue  of 
sinful  man !  It  is  an  insolent  part  of  reason,  to 
controvert  the  works  of  God,  or  question  the 
justice  of  his  proceedings.  Could  humility  teach 
others,  as  it  hath  instructed  me,  to  contemplate 
the  infinite  and  incomprehensible  distance  be- 
twixt the  Creator  and  the  creature  ;  or  did  we 
seriously  perpend  that  one  simile  of  St.  Paul, 
Rom.  ix.  ShaJi  the  vessel  say  to  the  potter,  WJiy  hast  thou 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  105 

made  me  thus  f  it  would  prevent  these  arrogant 
disputes  of  reason;  nor  would  we  argue  the 
definitive  sentence  of  God,  either  to  heaven  or 
hell.  Men  that  live  according  to  the  right  rule 
and  law  of  reason,  live  but  in  their  own  kind, 
as  beasts  do  in  theirs  ;  who  justly  obey  the  pre- 
script of  their  natures,  and  therefore  cannot 
reasonably  demand  a  reward  of  their  actions,  as 
only  obeying  the  natural  dictates  of  their  reason. 
It  will,  therefore,  and  must  at  last  appear,  that 
all  salvation  is  through  Christ ;  which  verity,  I 
fear,  these  great  examples  of  virtue  must  con- 
firm, and  make  it  good,  how  the  perfectest 
actions  of  earth  have  no  title  or  claim  unto 
heaven. 

LV.  Nor  truly  do  I  think  the  lives  of  these,  Our  pnw- 

p  ,  -,  -,  tice  incon- 

or  or  any  other,  were  ever  correspondent,  or  8iStentwith 
in  all  points  conformable  unto  their  doctrines.  ourtheor7- 
It  is  evident  that  Aristotle  transgressed  the  rule 
of  his  own  ethics :  the  Stoics  that  condemn  pas- 
sion, and  command  a  man  to  laugh  in  Phalaris 
his  bull,  could  not  endure  without  a  groan  a 
fit  of  the  stone  or  colic.  The  sceptics,  that 
afnrme.d  they  knew  nothing,  even  in  that  opin- 
ion confute  themselves,  and  thought  they  knew 
more  than  all  the  world  beside.  Diogenes  I 
hold  to  be  the  most  vainglorious  man  of  his 
time,  and  more  ambitious  in  refusing  all  hon- 
ours,  than  Alexander  in  rejecting  none.     Vice 


106  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

and  the  devil  put  a  fallacy  upon  our  reasons, 
and,  provoking  us  too  hastily  to  run  from  it, 
entangle  and  profound  us  deeper  in  it.  The 
duke  of  Venice,  that  weds  himself  unto  the 
sea  by  a  ring  of  gold,  I  will  not  argue  of  prodi- 
gality, because  it  is  a  solemnity  of  good  use 
and  consequence  in  the  state :  but  the  philoso- 
pher that  threw  his  money  into  the  sea  to  avoid 
avarice,  was  a  notorious  prodigal.*  There  is 
no  road  or  ready  way  to  virtue:  it  is  not  an 
easy  point  of  art  to  disentangle  ourselves  from 
this  riddle,  or  web  of  sin.  To  perfect  virtue, 
as  to  religion,  there  is  required  a  panoplia,  or 
complete  armour;  that  whilst  we  lie  at  close 
ward  against  one  vice,  we  lie  not  open  to  the 
veny  of  another:  and  indeed  wiser  discretions 
that  have  the  thread  of  reason  to  conduct  them, 
offend  without  a  pardon ;  whereas,  underheads 
may  stumble  without  dishonour.  There  are  so 
many  circumstances  to  piece  up  one  good  ac- 
tion, that  it  is  a  lesson  to  be  good,  and  we  are 

*  The  Doge  performs  this  ceremony  every  year,  in  token  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  state  of  Venice  over  the  Adriatic,  and  to 
commemorate  the  celebrated  declaration  of  Pope  Alexander  III. : 
"  Que  la  mer  vous  soit  soumisc  comme  l'dpouse  Test  a  son  (?poux, 
puisque  vous  en  avez  acquis  l'empire  par  la  victoire."  Apollo- 
nius  Thyaneus  threw  his  gold  into  the  sea,  saying  these  words: 
Pessundo  dicilias,  ne  pessundarer  ab  illls.  Polycrates,  the  tyrant 
of  Samos,  cast  the  best  jewel  he  had  into  the  sea,  that  thereby 
he  might  learn  to  compose  himself  against  the  vicissitudes  of 
fortune. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  107 

forced  to  be  virtuous  by  the  book.  Again,  the 
practice  of  men  holds  not  an  equal  pace ;  yea, 
and  often  runs  counter  to  their  theory:  we 
naturally  know  what  is  good,  but  naturally  pur- 
sue what  is  evil :  the  rhetoric  wherewith  I  per- 
suade another,  cannot  persuade  myself:  there 
is  a  depraved  appetite  in  us,  that  will  with 
patience  hear  the  learned  instructions  of  reason, 
but  yet  perform  no  farther  than  agrees  to  its 
own  irregular  humour.  In  brief,  we  all  are 
monsters,  that  is,  a  composition  of  man  and 
beast,  wherein  we  must  endeavour  to  be  as  the 
poets  fancy  that  wise  man  Chiron,  that  is,  to 
have  the  region  of  man  above  that  of  beast, 
and  sense  to  sit  but  at  the  feet  of  reason.  Last- 
ly, I  do  desire  with  God,  that  all,  but  yet  af-  1  Tim.  a. 
firm  with  men,  that  few  shall  know  salvation  :  2'p4Jt  ...  9 
that  the  bridge  is  narrow,  the  passage  strait 
unto  life :  yet  those  who  do  confine  the  Church 
of  God  either  to  particular  nations,  churches,  or 
families,  have  made  it  far  narrower  than  our 
Saviour  ever  meant  it. 

LVI.  The  vulgarity  of  those  judgments  that  The 
wrap  the  Church  of  God  in  Strabo's  cloak,*  and  God*  ™ot° 

circum- 
*  'Tis  Strabonis  tunica  in  the  translation,  but  chlamydi  -would  scribed, 
do  better,  which  is  the  proper  expression  of  the  word  that  Strabo 
useth :  it  is  not  Europe,  but  the  known  part  of  the  world,  that 
Strabo  resembleth  to  a  cloak,  and  that  is  it  the  author  here 
alludeth  to;  but  we  have  no  reason  to  think  that  the  resemblance 
of  Strabo  is  very  proper. 


108  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

restrain  it  unto  Europe,  seem  to  me  as  bad 
geographers  as  Alexander,  who  thought  he  had 
conquered  all  the  world,  when  he  had  not  sub- 
dued the  half  of  any  part  thereof:  for  we  can- 
not deny  the  Church  of  God  both  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  if  we  do  not  forget  the  peregrinations 
of  the  apostles,  the  deaths  of  the  martyrs,  the 
sessions  of  many,  and,  even  in  our  reformed 
judgment,  lawful  councils,  held  in  those  parts 
in  the  minority  and  nonage  of  ours :  nor  must 
a  few  differences,  more  remarkable  in  the  eyes 
of  man  than  perhaps  in  the  judgment  of  God, 
excommunicate  from  heaven  one  another;  much 
less  those  Christians  who  are  in  a  manner  all 
martyrs,  maintaining  their  faith  in  the  noble 
way  of  persecution,  and  serving  God  in  the  fire, 
whereas  we  honour  him  but  in  the  sunshine. 
a  sectarian       "p  is  true  we  all  hold  there  is  a  number  of 

spirit  hos- 

tile  to  elect,  and  many  to  be  saved;  yet  take  our 
chanty.  opinions  together,  and  from  the  confusion  there- 
of there  will  be  no  such  thing  as  salvation,  nor 
shall  any  one  be  saved.  For  first,  the  Church 
of  Rome  condemneth  us,  we  likewise  them ; 
the  sub-reformists  and  sectaries  sentence  the 
doctrine  of  our  Church  as  damnable  ;  the  ato- 
mist,  or  familist,*  reprobates  all  these  ;  and  all 
these,   them  again.     Thus  whilst   the   mercies 

*  The  atomists,  or  familists,  were  religionists  who  sprung  up 
about  the  year  1575.     See  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  i.  273. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  109 

of  God  do  promise  us  heaven,  our  conceits  and 
opinions  exclude  us  from  that  place.  There 
must  be,  therefore,  more  than  one  St.  Peter : 
particular  churches  and  sects  usurp  the  gates  of 
heaven,  and  turn  the  key  against  each  other, 
and  thus  we  go  to  heaven  against  each  other's 
wills,  conceits,  and  opinions,  and,  with  as  much 
uncharity  as  ignorance,  do  err,  I  fear,  in  points 
not  only  of  our  own,  but  one  another's  salva- 
tion. 

LVII.  I  believe  many  are  saved,  who  to  "Judge 
man  seem  reprobated ;  and  many  are  reprobat-  ye  ^e  not  ^" 
ed,  who,  in  the  opinion  and  sentence  of  man,  Judged." 
stand  elected.  There  will  appear  at  the  last 
day,  strange  and  unexpected  examples,  both  of 
his  justice  and  his  mercy ;  and  therefore  to  de- 
fine either  is  folly  in  man,  and  insolency  even 
in  the  devils :  those  acute  and  subtile  spirits, 
in  all  their  sagacity,  can  hardly  divine  who 
shall  be  saved ;  which  if  they  could  prognostic, 
their  labour  were  at  an  end,  nor  need  they 
compass  the  earth  seeking  whom  they  may  de- 
vour. Those  who,  upon  a  rigid  application  of 
the  law,  sentence  Solomon  unto  damnation,  con- 
demn not  only  him,  but  themselves,  and  the 
whole  world :  for  by  the  letter  and  written 
word  of  God,  we  are  without  exception  in  the 
state  of  death  ;  but  there  is  a  prerogative  of 
God  and  an  arbitrary  pleasure  above  the  letter 


110  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

of  his  own  law,  by  which  alone  we  can  pre- 
tend unto  salvation,  and  through  which  Solo- 
mon might  be  as  easily  saved  as  those  who 
condemn  him. 

LVIII.  The  number  of  those  who  pretend 
unto  salvation,  and  those  infinite  swarms  who 
think  to  pass  through  the  eye  of  this  needle, 
have  much  amazed  me.     That  name  and  com- 

st.  Luke  pellation  of  little  flock,  doth  not  comfort,  but 
deject  my  devotion ;  especially  when  I  reflect 
upon  mine  own  unworthiness,  wherein,  accord- 
ing to  my  humble  apprehensions,  I  am  below 
them  all.  I  believe  there  shall  never  be  an 
anarchy  in  heaven ;  but  as  there  are  hierarchies 
amongst  the  angels,  so  shall  there  be  degrees 
of  priority  amongst  the  saints.  Yet  is  it  (I 
protest)  beyond  my  ambition  to  aspire  unto 
the  first  ranks ;  my  desires  only  are,  and  I 
shall  be  happy  therein,  to  be  but  the  last  man, 
and  bring  up  the  rear  in  heaven. 

ourconfi-       LIX.  Again,  I  am  confident,  and  fully  per- 

dence  can  °  .  * 

only  be  in  suaded,  yet  dare  not  take  my  oath  of  my  sal- 
vation.    I  am  as  it  were  sure,  and  do  believe 

mercy.  7 

without  all  doubt,  that  there  is  such  a  city  as 
Constantinople  :  yet  for  me  to  take  my  oath 
thereon  were  a  kind  of  perjury,  because  I  hold 
no  infallible  warrant  from  my  own  sense  to 
confirm  me  in  the  certainty  thereof.  And  tru- 
ly, though  many  pretend  an  absolute  certainty 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  m 

of  their  salvation,  yet  when  an  humble  soul 
shall  contemplate  her  own  unworthiness,  she 
shall  meet  with  many  doubts,  and  suddenly 
find  how  little  we  stand  in  need  of  the  precept 
of  St.  Paul,  work  out  your  salvation  with  fear  pm.  ».  12. 
and  trembling.  That  which  is  the  cause  of 
my  election,  I  hold  to  be  the  cause  of  my  sal- 
vation, which  was  the  mercy  and  beneplacit  of 
God,  before  I  was,  or  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  "  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am,"  is  the  st-  John 
saying  of  Christ ;  yet  is  it  true  in  some  sense, 
if  I  say  it  of  myself ;  for  I  was  not  only  before 
myself,  but  Adam,  that  is,  in  the  idea  of  God, 
and  the  decree  of  that  synod  held  from  all 
eternity:  and  in  this  sense,  I  say,  the  world 
was  before  the  creation,  and  at  an  end  before 
it  had  a  beginning ;  and  thus  was  I  dead  be- 
fore I  was  alive :  though  my  grave  be  England, 
my  dying  place  was  paradise  :  and  Eve  mis- 
carried of  me,  before  she  conceived  of  Cain. 

LX.  Insolent  zeals,  that  do  decry  good  works  Faith. 
and  rely  only  upon  faith,  take  not  away  merit : 
for  depending  upon  the  efficacy  of  their  faith, 
they  enforce  the   condition   of  God,  and  in  a 
more  sophistical  way  do  seem  to  challenge  heav- 
en.    It  was   decreed  by  God,  that  only  those 
that  lapt  in  the  water  like  dogs,  should  have  Judges  tu 
the  honour  to  destroy  the  Midianites ;  yet  could  4"'* 
none  of  those  justly  challenge,  or  imagine  he 


112  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

deserved  that  honour  thereupon.  I  do  not 
deny,  but  that  true  faith,  and  such  as  God 
requires,  is  not  only  a  mark  or  token,  but  also 
a  means  of  our  salvation  ;  but  where  to  find 
this,  is  as  obscure  to  me  as  my  last  end.  And 
st.  Matt,  tf  our  Saviour  could  object  unto  his  own  dis- 

xvii.  20.  J 

ciples  and  favourites,  a  faith,  that,  to  the  quan- 
tity of  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  is  able  to  re- 
move mountains  ;  surely,  that  which  we  boast 
of  is  not  anything,  or  at  the  most  but  a  re- 
move from  nothing.  This  is  the  tenor  of  my 
belief;  wherein,  though  there  be  many  things 
singular,  and  to  the  humour  of  my  irregular 
self,  yet  if  they  square  not  with  maturer  judg- 
ments, I  disclaim  them,  and  do  no  further  fa- 
vour them,  than  the  learned  and  best  judgments 
shall  authorize  them. 


The  Second  Part. 


OW  for  that  other  virtue  of  charity,  charity. 
without  which  faith  is  a  mere  no-  icor.  xm 
tion,  and  of  no  existence,  I  have  2* 
ever  endeavoured  to  nourish  the 
merciful  disposition  and  humane  inclination  I 
borrowed  from  my  parents,  and  regulate  it 
to  the  written  and  prescribed  laws  of  char- 
ity: and  if  I  hold  the  true  anatomy  of  my- 
self, I  am  delineated  and  naturally  framed  to 
such  a  piece  of  virtue  ;  for  I  am  of  a  con- 
stitution so  general,  that  it  consorts  and  sym- 
pathized with  all  things :  I  have  no  antipathy, 
or  rather  idio-syncrasy,  in  diet,  humour,  air, 
anything.  I  wonder  not  at  the  French  for 
their  dishes  of  frogs,  snails,  and  toadstools ;  nor 
at  the  Jews  for  locusts  and  grasshoppers  ;  but 
being  amongst  them,  make  them  my  common 
viands,  and  I  find  they  agree  with  my  stomach 
as  well  as  theirs.  I  could  digest  a  salad  gath- 
8 


114  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

ered  in  a  churchyard,  as  well  as  in  a  garden. 
I  cannot  start  at  the  presence  of  a  serpent, 
scorpion,  lizard,  or  salamander :  at  the  sight 
of  a  toad  or  viper,  I  find  in  me  no  desire  to 
take  up  a  stone  to  destroy  them.  I  feel  not 
in  myself  those  common  antipathies  that  I  can 
discover  in  others  :  those  national  repugnances 
do  not  touch  me,  nor  do  I  behold  with  preju- 
dice the  French,  Italian,  Spaniard,  or  Dutch : 
but  where  I  find  their  actions  in  balance  with 
my  countrymen's,  I  honour,  love,  and  embrace 
them  in  the  same  degree.  I  was  born  in  the 
eighth  climate,  but  seem  for  to  be  framed  and 
constellated  unto  all :  I  am  no  plant  that  will 
not  prosper  out  of  a  garden ;  all  places,  all  airs, 
make  unto  me  one  country ;  I  am  in  England, 
everywhere,  and  under  any  meridian  ;  I  have 
been  shipwrecked,  yet  am  not  enemy  with  the 
sea  or  winds  ;  I  can  study,  play,  or  sleep  in  a 
tempest.  In  brief,  I  am  averse  from  nothing : 
my  conscience  would  give  me  the  lie  if  I  should 
absolutely  detest  or  hate  any  essence  but  the 
devil ;  or  so  at  least  abhor  anything,  but  that 
we  might  come  to  composition.  If  there  be 
any  among  those  common  objects  of  hatred  I 
do  contemn  and  laugh  at,  it  is  that  great  enemy 
of  reason,  virtue,  and  religion,  the  multitude : 
that  numerous  piece  of  monstrosity,  which,  taken 
asunder,  seem  men,  and  the  reasonable  crea- 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  115 

tures  of  God  ;  but  confused  together,  make  but 
one  great  beast,  and  a  monstrosity  more  pro- 
digious than  Hydra:  it  is  no  breach  of  charity 
to  call  these  fools  ;  it  is  the  style  all  holy  writers 
have  afforded  them,  set  down  by  Solomon  in 
canonical  Scripture,  and  a  point  of  our  faith 
to  believe  so.  Neither  in  the  name  of  multi- 
tude do  I  only  include  the  base  and  minor  sort 
of  people  ;  *  there  is  a  rabble  even  amongst  the 
gentry,  a  sort  of  plebeian  heads,  whose  fancy 
moves  with  the  same  wheel  as  these ;  men  in 
the  same  level  with  mechanics,  though  their 
fortunes  do  somewhat  gild  their  infirmities,  and 
their  purses  compound  for  their  follies.  But 
as  in  casting  account,  three  or  four  men  to- 
gether come  short  in  account  of  one  man  placed 
by  himself  below  them ;  so  neither  are  a  troop 
of  these  ignorant  Doradoes\  of  that  true  esteem 
and  value,  as  many  a  forlorn  person,  whose 
condition  doth  place  him  below  their  feet.  Let 
us  speak  like  politicians :  there  is  a  nobility 
without  heraldry,  a  natural  dignity,  whereby 
one  man  is  ranked  with  another,  another  filed 
before    him,    according    to   the    quality   of  his 


*  "  Do  not  imagine  that  I  consider  as  vulgar  those  only  of  the 
poor  and  humble  classes ;  but  all  who  are  ignorant,  even  be  they 
lords  or  princes,  they  must  be  classed  under  the  denomination 
vulgar."  —  Cervantes. 

t  Dorado,  Spanish.     Gilt-head. 


116  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

desert,  and  pre-eminence  of  his  good  parts.* 
Though  the  corruption  of  these  times  and  the 
bias  of  present  practice  wheel  another  way, 
thus  it  was  in  the  first  and  primitive  common- 
wealths, and  is  yet  in  the  integrity  aftd  cradle 
of  well-ordered  polities,  till  corruption  getteth 
ground ;  ruder  desires  labouring  after  that  which 
wiser  considerations  contemn,  every  one  having 
a  liberty  to  amass  and  heap  up  riches,  and 
they  a  license  or  faculty  to  do  or  purchase 
anything, 
charity  II.  This  general  and  indifferent  temper  of 

spring  from  mme  doth  more  nearly  dispose  me  to  this  noble 
a  proper  virtue .  It  is  a  happiness  to  be  bom  and  framed 
unto  virtue,  and  to  grow  up  from  the  seeds  of 
nature,  rather  than  the  inoculation  and  forced 
grass  of  education :  yet  if  we  are  directed  only 
by  our  particular  natures,  and  regulate  our  in- 
clinations by  no  higher  rule  than  that  of  our 
reasons,  we  are  but  moralists  ;  divinity  will  still 
call  us  heathens.  Therefore  this  great  work 
of  charity  must  have  other  motives,  ends,  and 
impulsions.     I  give  no  alms  to  satisfy  the  hun- 

*  u  Nobilitas  sola  est  atque  unica,  virtus." 

Juvenal. 
"  Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me, 
'T  is  only  noble  to  be  good ; 
Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

Tennyson. 


motive. 


/ 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  117 

ger  of  my  brother,  but  to  fulfil  and.  accomplish  l^ 
the  will  and  command  of  my  God :  I  draw  not 
my  purse  for  his  sake  that  demands  it,  but 
His  that  enjoined  it :  I  relieve  no  man  upon 
the  rhetoric  of  his  miseries,  nor  to  content  mine 
own  commiserating  disposition ;  for  this  is  still 
but  moral  charity,  and  an  act  that  oweth  more 
to  passion  than  reason.  He  that  relieves  an- 
other upon  the  bare  suggestion  and  bowels  of 
pity,  doth  not  this  so  much  for  his  sake  as  for 
his  own;  for  by  compassion  we  make  others' 
misery  our  own,  and  so,  by  relieving  them,  we 
relieve  ourselves  also.  It  is  as  erroneous  a 
conceit  to  redress  other  men's  misfortunes  upon 
the  common  considerations  of  merciful  natures, 
that  it  may  be  one  day  our  own  case ;  for  this 
is  a  sinister  and  politic  kind  of  charity,  whereby 
we  seem  to  bespeak  the  pities  of  men  in  the 
like  occasions.  And  truly  I  have  observed  The  nature 
that  those  professed  eleemosynaries,  though  in  beicnr^sig. 
a  crowd  or  multitude,  do  yet  direct  and  place  nhiedin 
their  petitions  on  a  few  and  selected  persons :  ward  forms. 
there  is  surely  a  physiognomy,  which  those 
experienced  and  master  mendicants  observe, 
whereby  they  instantly  discover  a  merciful  as- 
pect, and  will  single  out  a  face  wherein  they 
spy  the  signatures  and  marks  of  mercy.  For 
there  are  mystically  in  our  faces  certain  char- 
acters which  carry  in  them  the  motto  of  our 


118  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

souls,  wherein  lie  that  cannot  read  ABC  may 
read  our  natures.  I  hold,  moreover,  that  there 
is  a  phytognomy,  or  physiognomy,  not  only  of 
men,  but  of  plants  and  vegetables :  and  in  every- 
one of  them  some  outward  figures  which  hang 
as  signs  or  bushes  of  their  inward  forms.*  The 
finger  of  God  hath  left  an  inscription  upon  all 
his  works,  not  graphical  or  composed  of  letters, 
but  of  their  several  forms,  constitutions,  parts, 
and  operations,  which,  aptly  joined  together,  do 
make  one  word  that  doth  express  their  natures. 

Ps.  cxivii.  By  these  letters  God  calls  the  stars  by  their 
names ;  and  by  this  alphabet  Adam  assigned  to 

Gen.ii.i9,  every  creature  a  name  peculiar  to  its  nature. 
Now  there  are,  besides  these  characters  in  our 

Of  chiro-  faces,  certain  mystical  figures  in  our  hands,  which 
I  dare  not  call  mere  dashes,  strokes  a  la  volee, 
or  at  random,  because  delineated  by  a  pencil 
that  never  works  in  vain ;  and  hereof  I  take 
more  particular  notice,  because  I  carry  that 
in  mine  own  hand  which  I  could  never  read 
of  nor  discover  in  another.  Aristotle,  I  confess, 
in  his  acute  and  singular  book  of  physiognomy, 
hath  made  no  mention  of  chiromancy ;  yet  I 
believe,  the   Egyptians,  who  were   nearer   ad- 

*  Vintners  were  wont  to  hang  up  bushes,  or  garlands  of  ivy, 
over  their  doors.  See  Epilogue  to  As  you  like  it :  "  If  it  be  true 
that  good  wine  needs  no  bush,  't  is  true  that  a  good  play  needs 
no  epilogue." 


REL1GI0  MEDICI.  119 

dieted  to  those  abstruse  and  mystical  sciences, 
had  a  knowledge  therein,  to  which  those  vag- 
abond and  counterfeit  Egyptians  did  after  pre- 
tend, and  perhaps  retained  a  few  corrupted 
principles,  which  sometimes  might  verify  their 
prognostics. 

It  is  the  common  wonder  of  all  men,  how  variety  of 
among  so  many  millions  of  faces  there  should  ™r™rin 
be  none  alike.  Now,  contrary,  I  wonder  as  nature. 
much  how  there  should  be  any:  he  that  shall 
consider  how  many  thousand  several  words  have 
been  carelessly  and  without  study  composed  out 
of  twenty-four  letters  ;  withal,  how  many  hun- 
dred lines  there  are  to  be  drawn  in  the  fabric 
of  one  man,  shall  easily  find  that  this  variety 
is  necessary ;  and  it  will  be  very  hard  that  they 
shall  so  concur  as  to  make  one  portrait  like 
another.  Let  a  painter  carelessly  limn  out  a 
million  of  faces,  and  you  shall  find  them  all 
different ;  yea,  let  him  have  his  copy  before 
him,  yet  after  all  his  art  there  will  remain  a 
sensible  distinction ;  for  the  pattern  or  example 
of  everything  is  the  perfectest  in  that  kind, 
whereof  we  still  come  short,  though  we  tran- 
scend or  go  beyond  it,  because  herein  it  is  wide, 
and  agrees  not  in  all  points  unto  its  copy. 
Nor  doth  the  similitude  of  creatures  disparage 
the  variety  of  nature,  nor  any  way  confound 
the  works  of  God.     For  even  in  things  alike 


120  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

there  is  diversity ;  and  those  that  do  seem  to 
accord  do  manifestly  disagree.  And  thus  is 
man  like  God ;  for  in  the  same  things  that 
we  resemble  him,  we  are  utterly  different  from 
him.  There  was  never  anything  so  like  an- 
other as  in  all  points  to  concur :  there  will  ever 
some  reserved  difference  slip  in,  to  prevent 
the  identity,  without  which  two  several  things 
would  not  be  alike,  but  the  same,  which  is  im- 
possible. 

^our°fei!  IIL  But  t0  return  from  philosophy  to  char- 
iow-crea-  ity :  I  hold  not  so  narrow  a  conceit  of  this  vir- 
m^the  tue>  as  to  conceive  that  to  give  alms  is  only 
object  of  to  be  charitable,  or  think  a  piece  of  liberality 
their  can  comprehend  the  total  of  charity.  Divinity 
bodies,  hath  wisely  divided  the  act  thereof  into  many 
y  branches,  and  hath  taught  us  in  this  narrow 

way  many  paths  unto  goodness ;  as  many  ways 
as  we  may  do  good,  so  many  ways  we  may  be 
charitable:  there  are  infirmities  not  only  of 
body,  but  of  soul,  and  fortunes,  which  do  re- 
quire the  merciful  hand  of  our  abilities.  I  can- 
not contemn  a  man  for  ignorance,  but  behold 
him  with  as  much  pity  as  I  do  Lazarus.  It  is 
no  greater  charity  to  clothe  his  body,  than 
apparel  the  nakedness  of  his  soul.  It  is  an 
honourable  object  to  see  the  reasons  of  other 
men  wear  our  liveries,  and  their  borrowed 
understandings   do   homage   to   the   bounty  of 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  121 

ours :  it  is  the  cheapest  way  of  beneficence,  and, 
like  the  natural  charity  of  the  sun,  illuminates 
another  without   obscuring   itself.     To   be   re- 
served and  caitiff  hi  this  part  of  goodness,  is 
the  sordidest  piece  of  covetousness,  and  more 
contemptible  than  pecuniary  avarice.     To  this 
(as  calling  myself  a  scholar)  I  am  obliged  by  The  duty 
the  duty  of  my  condition :  I  make  not  therefore  ingknowi- 
my  head  a  grave,  but  a  treasury  of  knowledge :  edge* 
I   intend   no   monopoly,   but   a  community  in 
learning :  I  study  not  for  my  own  sake  only, 
but  for  theirs  that  study  not   for   themselves. 
I~envy  no  man  that  knows  more  than  myself, 
but  pity  them  that  know  less.     I  instruct  no 
man  as  an  exercise  of  my  knowledge,  or  with 
an  intent  rather  to  nourish  and  keep  it  alive  in 
mine  own  head  than  beget  and  propagate  it  in 
his:   and  in  the  midst  of  all  my  endeavours, 
there  is  but  one  thought  that  dejects  me,  that 
my  acquired  parts  must  perish  with  myself,  nor 
can  be  legacied   among  my  honoured  friends. 
I  cannot  fall  out  or  contemn  a  man  for  an  error,  Differences 
or  conceive  why  a  difference  in  opinion  should  need  not 
divide  an  affection :  for  controversies,  disputes,  divide 

i  .,,.,.,  i  »    .      affection. 

and  argumentations,  both  m  philosophy  and  in 
divinity,  if  they  meet  with  discreet  and  peacea- 
ble natures,  do  not  infringe  the  laws  of  charity. 
In  all  disputes,  so  much  as  there  is  of  passion, 
so  much  there  is  of  nothing  to  the  purpose ;  for 


122  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

then  reason,  like  a  bad  hound,  spends  upon  a 
false  scent,  and  forsakes  the  question  first  start- 
ed. And  in  this  is  one  reason  why  contro- 
versies are  never  determined ;  for  though  they 
be  amply  proposed,  they  are  scarce  at  all  han- 
dled ;  they  do  so  swell  with  unnecessary  digres- 
sions, and  the  parenthesis  on  the  party  is  often 
as  large  as  the  main  discourse  upon  the  subject. 
The  foundations  of  religion  are  already  estab- 
lished, and  the  principles  of  salvation  subscribed 
unto  by  all :  there  remain  not  many  controver- 
sies worth  a  passion;  and  yet  never  any  disputed 
without,  not  only  in  divinity,  but  inferior  arts. 
What  a  ftarpayoiLvoiiayla  and  hot  skirmish  is 
betwixt  S  and  T  in  Lucian?*  How  do  gram- 
marians hack  and  slash  for  the  genitive  case  in 
Jupiter !  f  How  they  do  break  their  own  pates 
to  salve  that  of  Priscian  !  Si  foret  in  terris,  ri- 
deret  Democritus.  Yea,  even  amongst  wiser  mili- 
tants, how  many  wounds  have  been  given,  and 
credits  slain,  for  the  poor  victory  of  an  opinion, 
or  beggarly  conquest  of  a  distinction  !  Scholars 
are  men  of  peace,  they  bear  no  arms,  but  their 
tongues  are  sharper  than  Actius  his  razor ;  J 

*  In  his  dialogue,  judicium  vocalium,  where  there  is  a  large 
oration  made  to  the  vowels,  being  judges,  by  Sigma  against  Tau, 
complaining  tbat  Tau  has  bereaved  him  of  many  words,  which 
should  begin  with  Sigma. 

f  Whether  Jovis  or  Jupitris. 

%  Accius  Nffivius  is  reported  by  Livy,  Lib.  i.  cap.  36,  to  have 


>  OF   TIJE  Qf\      N 

their  pens  carry  farther,  and  give  a  louder  re- 
port than  thunder :  I  had  rather  s 
shock  of  a  basilisco,*  than  in  the  fury  of  a  mer- 
ciless pen.  It  is  not  mere  zeal  to  learning,  or 
devotion  to  the  Muses,  that  wiser  princes  pat- 
ron the  arts,  and  carry  an  indulgent  aspect  unto 
scholars ;  hut  a  desire  to  have  their  names  eter- 
nized by  the  memory  of  their  writings,  and  a 
fear  of  the  revengeful  pen  of  succeeding  ages ; 
for  these  are  the  men  that,  when  they  have 
played  their  parts,  and  had  their  exits,  must 
step  out  and  give  the  moral  of  their  scenes,  and 
deliver  unto  posterity  an  inventory  of  their  vir- 
tues and  vices.  And  surely  there  goes  a  great 
deal  of  conscience  to  the  compiling  of  an  his- 
tory: there  is  no  reproach  to  the  scandal  of  a 
story ;  it  is  such  an  authentic  kind  of  falsehood 
that  with  authority  belies  our  good  names  to  all 
nations  and  posterity. 

IV.  There  is  another  offence  unto  charity,  National 
which  no  author  hath  ever  written  of,  and  few  ^an* of 

/  *  chanty. 

take  notice  of;  and /that's  the  reproach,  not  of 
whole  professions,  mysteries,  and  conditions,  but 
of  whole  nations,  wherein  by  opprobrious  epi- 
thets we  miscall  each  other,  and  by  an  unchari- 
table logic,  from  a  disposition  in  a  few,  conclude    \± 

cut  a  whetstone  through  with  a  razor,  at  the  challenge  of  the  \,y    ' 
King,  Tarquinius  Priscus.  **"«£,        A- 

*  Basilisco,  a  kind  of  cannon. 


124  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

a  habit  in  all.  St.  Paul,  that  calls  the  Cretans 
liars,  doth  it  but  indirectly,  and  upon  quotation 
of  their  own  poet.*  It  is  as  bloody  a  thought 
in  one  way,  as  Nero's  was  in  another ;  f  for  by 
a  word  we  wound  a  thousand,  and  at  one  blow 
assassine  the  honour  of  a  nation.  It  is  as  com- 
plete a  piece  of  madness  to  miscall  and  rave 
against  the  times,  or  think  to  recall  men  to 
reason  by  a  fit  of  passion.  Democritus,  that 
thought  to  laugh  the  times  into  goodness,  seems 
to  me  as  deeply  hypochondriac  as  Heraclitus 
that  bewailed  them.  It  moves  not  my  spleen 
to  behold  the  multitude  in  their  proper  hu- 
mours, that  is,  in  their  fits  of  folly  and  mad- 
ness ;  as  well  understanding  that  wisdom  is  not 
profaned  unto  the  world,  and  'tis  the  privilege 
of  a  few  to  be  virtuous.  They  that  endeavour 
to  abolish  vice,  destroy  also  virtue ;  for  contra- 

*  That  is,  Epimenides;  the  place  is  Tit.  i.  v.  12,  where  St. 
Paul  useth  this  verse,  taken  out  of  Epimenides : 

YLprjTfS  del  yj/evorai,  kciku  Orjpia,  yacrrepfs  dpyai. 
f  I  suppose  he  alludes  to  that  passage  in  Sueton.  38,  in  the 
life  of  Nero,  where  he  relates  that  a  certain  person  upon  a  time 
spoke  in  his  hearing  these  words, 

'E/xou  Bavovros  yaia  /ii^^ro)  Trvpi, 
i.  e.  When  I  am  dead  let  earth  be  mingled  with  fire.  Where- 
upon the  Emperor  uttered  these  words,  TLpov  ftSi/roy,  i.  e.  Yea, 
whilst  I  live:  there,  by  one  word,  he  expressed  a  cruel  thought 
which  I  think  is  the  thing  he  meant.  This  is  more  cruel  than 
the  wish  of  Caligula,  that  the  people  of  Rome  had  but  one  neck, 
that  he  might  destroy  them  all  at  a  blow. 


v^- 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  125 


ries,  though  they  destroy  one  another,  are  yet 
the  life  of  one  another.  Thus  virtue  (abolish 
vice)  is  an  idea.  Again,  the  community  of 
sin  doth  not  disparage  goodness;  for  when  vice 
gains  upon  the  major  part,  virtue,  in  whom 
it  remains,  becomes  more  excellent ;  and  being 
lost  in  some,  multiplies  its  goodness  in  others 
which  remain  untouched,  and  persists  entire  in 
the  general  inundation.  I  can  therefore  behold 
vice  without  a  satire,  content  only  with  an  ad- 
monition, or  instructive  reprehension  ;  for  noble 
natures,  and  such  as  are  capable  of  goodness, 
are  railed  into  vice,  that  might  as  easily  be 
admonished  into  virtue ;  and  we  should  be  all 
so  far  the  orators  of  goodness,  as  to  protect 
her  from  the  power  of  vice,  and  maintain  the 
cause  of  injured  truth.  No  man  can  justly  Man  most 
censure  or  condemn  another,  because  indeed  ^knowl- 
no  man  truly  knows  another.  This  I  perceive  *ige  of 
in  myself;  for  I  am  in  the  dark  to  all  the  world, 
and  my  nearest  friends  behold-  me  but  in  a 
cloud:  those  that  know  me.  but  superficially, 
think  less  of  me  than  I  do  of  myself;  those 
of  my  near  acquaintance  think  more.  God, 
who  truly  knows  me,  knows  that  I  am  nothing ; 
for  He  only  beholds  me  and  all  the  world,  who 
looks  not  on  us  through  a  derived  ray,  or  a 
trajection  of  a  sensible  species,  but  beholds  the 
substance  without  the  help  of  accidents,  and  the 


126  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

forms  of  things  as  we  their  operations.  Fur- 
ther, no  man  can  judge  another,  because  no 
man  knows  himself:  for  we  censure  others  but 
as  they  disagree  from  that  humour  which  we 
fancy  laudable  in  ourselves,  and  commend  oth- 
ers but  for  that  wherein  they  seem  to  quadrate 
and  consent  with  us.  So  that  in  conclusion, 
all  is  but  that  we  all  condemn,  self-love.  'Tis 
the  general  complaint  of  these  times,  and  per- 
haps of  those  past,  that  charity  grows  cold; 
which  I  perceive  most  verified  in  those  which 
most  do  manifest  the  fires  and  flames  of  zeal; 
for  it  is  a  virtue  that  best  agrees  with  cold- 
est natures,  and  such  as  are  complexioned  for 
humility.  But  how  shall  we  expect  charity 
-7  towards  others,  when  we  are  uncharitable  to 
ourselves  ?  Charity  begins  at  home,  is  the  voice 
of  the  world;  yet  is  every  man  his  greatest 
enemy,  and  as  it  were  his  own  executioner. 
Nbn  occides,  is  the  commandment  of  God,  yet 
scarce  observed  by  any  man ;  for  I  perceive 
every  man  is  his  own  Atropos,  and  lends  a 
hand  to  cut  the  thread  of  his  own  days.  Cain 
was  not  therefore  the  first  murderer,  but  Adam, 
who  brought  in  death ;  whereof  he  beheld  the 
practice  and  example  in  his  own  son  Abel,  and 
saw  that  verified  in  the  experience  of  another, 
which  faith  could  not  persuade  him  in  the  the- 
ory of  himself. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  127 

V.  There  is,  I  think,  no  man  that  appre-  ofsym- 
hendeth  his  own  miseries  less  than  myself,  and  p?^*~ 
no  man  that  so  nearly  apprehends   another's. 
I  could  lose  an  arm  without  a  tear,  and  with  ^ 

few  groans,  methinks,  be  quartered  into  pieces ; 
yet  can  I  weep  most  seriously  at  a  play,  and 
receive  with  a  true  passion  the  counterfeit  griefs 
of  those  known  and  professed  impostures.  It 
is  a  barbarous  part  of  inhumanity  to  add  unto 
any  afflicted  party's  misery,  or  endeavour  to 
multiply  in  any  man  a  passion  whose  single 
nature  is  already  above  his  patience :  this  was 
the  greatest  affliction  of  Job ;  and  those  oblique  job  xix. 
expostulations  of  his  friends,  a  deeper  injury 
than  the  downright  blows  of  the  devil.  It  is 
not  the  tears  of  our  own  eyes  only,  but  of  our 
friends  also,  that  do  exhaust  the  current  of  our 
sorrows  ;  which  falling  into  many  streams,  runs 
more  peaceably,  and  is  contented  with  a  nar- 
rower channel.  It  is  an  act  within  the  power  of 
charity,  to  translate  a  passion  out  of  one  breast 
into  another,  and  to  divide  a  sorrow  almost  out 
of  itself ;  for  an  affliction,  like  a  dimension,  may 
be  so  divided,  as,  if  not  invisible,  at  least  to 
become  insensible.  Now  with  my  friend  I  de- 
sire not  to  share  or  participate,  but  to  engross 
his  sorrows,  that,  by  making  them  mine  own 
I  may  more  easily  discuss  them;  for  in  mine 
own   reason,  and  within   myself,    I   can   com- 


128  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

mand  that  which  I  cannot  intreat  without  my- 
self, and  within  the  circle  of  another.  I  have 
often  thought  those  noble  pairs  and  examples  of 
friendship  not  so  truly  histories  of  what  had 
been,  as  fictions  of  what  should  be ;  but  I  now 
perceive  nothing  in  them  but  possibilities,  nor 
anything  in  the  heroic  examples  of  Damon  and 
Pythias,  Achilles  and  Patroclus,  which  me- 
thinks  upon  some  grounds  I  could  not  perform 
within  the  narrow  compass  of  myself.  That 
a  man  should  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend, 
seems  strange  to  vulgar  affections,  and  such  as 
confine  themselves  within  that  worldly  principle, 
Charity  begins  at  home.  For  mine  own  part, 
I  could  never  remember  the  relations  that  I 
held  unto  myself,  nor  the  respect  that  I  owe 
unto  my  own  nature,  in  the  cause  of  God,  my 
country,  and  my  friends.*  Next  to  these  three, 
I  do  embrace  myself.  I  confess  I  do  not  ob- 
serve that  order  that  the  schools  ordain  our 
affections,  to  love  our  parents,  wives,  children, 
and  then  our  friends ;  for  excepting  the  injunc- 

*  Cf.  Pope's  Essay  on  Man: 

"  Self-love  but  serves  the  virtuous  mind  to  wake, 
As  the  small  pebble  stirs  the  peaceful  lake ; 
The  centre  moved,  a  circle  straight  succeeds, 
Another  still,  and  still  another  spreads; 
Friend,  parent,  neighbour,  next  it  will  embrace, 
His  country  next,  and  next  all  human  race; 
Wide  and  more  wide  the  o'erflowings  of  the  mind 
Take  every  creature  in  of  every  kiud." 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  129 

tions  of  religion,  I  do  not  find  in  myself  such  a 
necessary  and  indissoluble  sympathy  to  all  those 
of  my  blood.  I  hope  I  do  not  break  the  fifth 
commandment,  if  I  conceive  I  may  love  my 
friend  before  the  nearest  of  my  blood,  even 
those  to  whom  I  owe  the  principles  of  life ;  I 
never  yet  cast  a  true  affection  on  a  woman ;  but 
I  have  loved  my  friend  as  I  do  virtue,  my  soul, 
my  God.  From  hence  methinks  I  do  conceive 
how  God  loves  man,  what  happiness  there  is 
in  the  love  of  God.  Omitting  all  other,  there 
are  three  most  mystical  unions ;  two  natures  in 
one  person ;  three  persons  in  one  nature ;  one 
soul  in  two  bodies.  For  though  indeed  they 
be  really  divided,  yet  are  they  so  united  as  they 
seem  but  one,  and  make  rather  a  duality  than 
two  distinct  souls. 

VI.  There  are  wonders  in  true  affection :  it  The  mys- 
is  a  body  of  enigmas,  mysteries,  and  riddles ;  *xl°ti0™Q 
wherein  two  so  become  one,  as  they  both  be- 
come two.  I  love  my  friend  before  myself, 
and  yet  methinks  I  do  not  love  him  enough: 
some  few  months  hence,  my  multiplied  affection 
will  make  me  believe  I  have  not  loved  him  at 
all :  when  I  am  from  him,  I  am  dead  till  I  be 
with  him  ;  when  I  am  with  him,  I  am  not  satis- 
fied, but  would  still  be  nearer  him.  United  souls 
are  not  satisfied  with  embraces,  but  desire  to  be 
truly  each  other ;  which  being  impossible,  their 


\ 


130  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

desires  are  infinite,  and  must  proceed  without  a 
possibility  of  satisfaction.  Another  misery  there 
is  in  affection,  that  whom  we  truly  love  like  our 
ownselves,  we  forget  their  looks,  nor  can  our 
memory  retain  the  idea  of  their  faces ;  and  it 
is  no  wonder,  for  they  are  ourselves,  and  our 
affection  makes  their  looks  our  own.  This  no- 
ble affection  falls  not  on  vulgar  and  common 
constitutions,  but  on  such  as  are  marked  for 
virtue  :  he  that  can  love  his  friend  with  this 
noble  ardour,  will  in  a  competent  degree  affect 
all.  Now  if  we  can  bring  our  affections  to  look 
beyond  the  body,  and  cast  an  eye  upon  the 
soul,  we  have  found  out  the  true  object,  not 
only  of  friendship,  but  charity ;  and  the  great- 
est happiness  that  we  can  bequeath  the  soul 
is  that  wherein  we  all  do  place  our  last  felicity, 
salvation  ;  which  though  it  be  not  in  our  power 
to  bestow,  it  is  in  our  charity  and  pious  invoca- 
tions to  desire,  if  not  procure  and  further.  I 
cannot  contentedly  frame  a  prayer  for  myself  in 
particular,  without  a  catalogue  for  my  friends  ; 
nor  request  a  happiness  wherein  my  sociable 
disposition  doth  not  desire  the  fellowship  of  my 
neighbour.  I  never  hear  the  toll  of  a  passing 
bell,  though  in  my  mirth,  without  my  prayers 
and  best  wishes  for  the  departing  spirit :  I  can- 
not go  to  cure  the  body  of  my  patient,  but  I 
forget  my  profession,  and  call  unto  God  for  his 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  131 

soul :  I  cannot  see  one  say  his  prayers,  but,  in- 
stead of  imitating  him,  I  fall  into  a  supplication 
for  him,  who  perhaps  is  no  more  to  me  than  a 
common  nature  :  and  if  God  hath  vouchsafed 
an  ear  to  my  supplications,  there  are  surely 
many  happy  that  never  saw  me,  and  enjoy  the 
blessing  of  mine  unknown  devotions.  To  pray 
for  enemies,  that  is,  for  their  salvation,  is  no 
harsh  precept,  but  the  practice  of  our  daily 
and  ordinary  devotions.  I  cannot  believe  the 
story  of  the  Italian :  our  bad  wishes  and  un- 
charitable desires  proceed  no  further  than  this 
life ;  it  is  the  devil,  and  the  uncharitable  votes 
of  hell,  that  desire  our  misery  in  the  world  to 
come. 

VII.  To  do  no  injury,  nor  take  none,  was  to  forgive 
a  principle,   which   to   my   former   years,  and  ^wt^gt~' 
impatient  affections,  seemed  to  contain  enough  revenge. 
of  morality ;   but  my  more  settled  years,  and 
Christian  constitution,  have  fallen  upon  severer 
resolutions.     I  can  hold  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  injury ;  that  if  there  be,  there  is  no  such 
injury  as  revenge,  and  no  such  revenge  as  the 
contempt  of  an  injury ;  that  to  hate  another,  is 
to  malign  himself;  that  the  truest  way  to  love 
another,  is  to  despise  ourselves.     I  were  unjust 
unto  mine  own  conscience,  if  I  should  say  I  am 
at  variance  with  anything  like  myself.     I  find\7. 
there  are  many  pieces  in  this  one  fabric  of  man ; 


+ 


132  RELIGIO  MEDIC L 

this  frame  is  raised  upon  a  mass  of  antipathies : 
I  am  one,  methinks,  but  as  the  world ;  wherein 
notwithstanding,  there  are  a  swarm  of  distinct 
essences,  and  in  them  another  world  of  contra- 
rieties ;  we  carry  private  and  domestic  enemies 
within,  public  and  more  hostile  adversaries  with- 
out. The  devil,  that  did  but  buffet  St.  Paul, 
plays  methinks  at  sharp  with  me :  let  me  be 
nothing,  if  within  the  compass  of  myself  I  do 
not  find  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  passion  against 
reason,  reason  against  faith,  faith  against  the 
devil,  and  my  conscience  against  all.  There  is 
another  man  within  me,  that 's  angry  with  me, 
rebukes,  commands,  and  dastards  me.  I  have 
no  conscience  of  marble  to  resist  the  hammer 
of  more  heavy  offences ;  nor  yet  so  soft  and 
waxen,  as  to  take  the  impression  of  each  single 
peccadillo  or  scape  of  infirmity:  I  am  of  a 
strange  belief,  that  it  is  as  easy  to  be  forgiven 
some  sins,  as  to  commit  some  others.  For  my 
original  sin,  I  hold  it  to  be  washed  away  in  my 
baptism :  *  for  my  actual  transgressions,  I  com- 
pute and  reckon  with  God  but  from  my  last 
repentance,  sacrament,  or  general  absolution ; 
and  therefore  am  not  terrified  with  the  sins  or 


*  This  is  most  true  as  far  as  the  imputation  of  the  same  is 
concerned.  For  where  the  means  of  avoiding  its  consequences 
have  heen  afforded,  each  after  transgression  is  actual,  by  a 
neglect  of  those  means.     Coleridge. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  133 

madness  of  my  youth.  I  thank  the  goodness  of 
God,  I  have  no  sins  that  want  a  name ;  I  am 
not  singular  in  offences,  my  transgressions  are 
epidemical,  and  from  the  common  breath  of  our 
corruption.  For  there  are  certain  tempers  of 
body  which,  matched  with  an  humorous  deprav- 
ity of  mind,  do  hatch  and  produce  vitiosities, 
whose  newness  and  monstrosity  of  nature  admits 
no  name :  this  was  the  temper  of  that  lecher  that 
carnalled  with  a  statua,  and  the  constitution 
of  Nero  in  his  spintrian  recreations.  For  the 
heavens  are  not  only  fruitful  in  new  and  un- 
heard-of stars,  the  earth  in  plants  and  animals, 
but  men's  minds  also  in  villany  and  vices :  now 
the  dulness  of  my  reason,  and  the  vulgarity  of 
my  disposition,  never  prompted  my  invention, 
nor  solicited  my  affection  unto  any  of  these ; 
yet  even  those  common  and  quotidian  infirmi- 
ties that  so  necessarily  attend  me,  and  do  seem 
to  be  my  very  nature,  have  so  dejected  me,  so 
broken  the  estimation  that  I  should  have  other- 
wise of  myself,  that  I  repute  myself  the  most 
abjectest  piece  of  mortality.  Divines  prescribe 
a  fit  of  sorrow  to  repentance :  there  goes  indig- 
nation, anger,  sorrow,  hatred,  into  mine ;  pas- 
sions of  a  contrary  nature,  which  neither  seem 
to  suit  with  this  action,  nor  my  proper  constitu- 
tion. It  is  no  breach  of  charity  to  ourselves, 
to  be  at  variance  with  our  vices :  nor  to  abhor 


134  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

that  part  of  us  which  is  an  enemy  to  the  ground 
of  charity,  our  God ;  wherein  we  do  but  imitate 
our  great  selves  the  world,  whose  divided  antip- 
athies and  contrary  faces  do  yet  carry  a  chari- 
table regard  unto  the  whole  by  their  particular 
discords,  preserving  the  common  harmony,  and 
keeping  in  fetters  those  powers,  whose  rebel- 
lions once  masters,  might  be  the  ruin  of  all. 
of  Pride  VIII.  I  thank  God,  amongst  those  millions 
crit.C°n"  °f  yices  I  d°  inherit  and  hold  from  Adam,  I 
have  escaped  one,  and  that  a  mortal  enemy 
j  to  charity,  the  first  and  father-sin,  not  only 
of  man,  but  of  the  devil,  pride:  a  vice  whose 
name  is  comprehended  in  a  monosyllable,  but 
in  its  nature  not  circumscribed  with  a  world: 
I  have  escaped  it  in  a  condition  that  can  hardly 
avoid  it:  those  petty  acquisitions  and  reputed 
perfections  that  advance  and  elevate  the  con- 
ceits of  other  men,  add  no  feathers  unto  mine. 
I  have  seen  a  grammarian  tower  and  plume 
himself  over  a  single  line  in  Horace,  and  show 
more  pride  in  the  construction  of  one  ode,  than 
the  author  in  the  composure  of  the  whole  book. 
|For  my  own  part,  besides  the  jargon  and  patois 
of  several  provinces,  I  understand  no  less  than 
'six  languages ;  yet  I  protest  I  have  no  higher 
conceit  of  myself,  than  had  our  fathers  before 
the  confusion  of  Babel,  when  there  was  but 
one  language  in  the  world,  and  none  to  boast 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  135 

himself  either  linguist  or  critic.  I  have  not 
only  seen  several  countries,  beheld  the  nature 
of  their  climes,  the  chorography  of  their  prov- 
inces, topography  of  their  cities,  but  understood 
their  several  laws,  customs,  and  policies ;  yet 
cannot  all  this  persuade  the  dulness  of  my  spirit 
unto  such  an  opinion  of  myself,  as  I  behold  in 
nimbler  and  conceited  heads  that  never  looked 
a  degree  beyond  their  nests.  I  know  the  names, 
and  somewhat  more,  of  all  the  constellations 
in  my  horizon  ;  yet  I  have  seen  a  prating  mar- 
iner, that  could  only  name  the  pointers  and 
the  north  star,  out-talk  me,  and  conceit  himself 
a  whole  sphere  above  me.  I  know  most  of 
the  plants  of  my  country,  and  of  those  about 
me ;  yet  methinks  I  do  not  know  so  many 
as  when  I  did  but  know  a  hundred,  and  had 
scarcely  ever  simpled  further  than  Cheapside :  * 
for,  indeed,  heads  of  capacity,  and  such  as  are 
not  full  with  a  handful  or  easy  measure  of 
knowledge,  think  they  know  nothing  till  they 
know  all  ;  which  being  impossible,  they  fall 
upon  the  opinion  of  Socrates,  and  only  know 
they  know  not  anything.  I  cannot  think  that 
Homer  pined  away  upon  the  riddle  of  the  fish- 
ermen ;  or  that  Aristotle,  who  understood  the 

*  " . . . .  these  lisping  hawthorn  buds,  that  come  like  women  in 
men's  apparel,  and  smell  like  Bucklersbury  in  simple-time."  — 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  iii.  3. 


136  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

uncertainty  of  knowledge,  and  confessed  so  often 
the  reason  of  man  too  weak  for  the  works  of 
nature,  did  ever  drown  himself  upon  the  flux 
and  reflux  of  Euripus.  We  do  but  learn  to- 
day, what  our  better  advanced  judgments  will 
unteach  to-morrow ;  and  Aristotle  doth  but  in- 
struct us,  as  Plato  did  him ;  that  is,  to  confute 
himself.  I  have  run  through  all  sorts,  yet 
find  no  rest  in  any:  though  our  first  studies 
and  junior  endeavours  may  style  us  Peripatetics, 
Stoics,  or  Academics  ;  yet  I  perceive  the  wisest 
heads  prove,  at  last,  almost  all  Sceptics,  and 
stand  like  Janus  in  the  field  of  knowledge. 
I  have  therefore  one  common  and  authentic 
philosophy  I  learned  in  the  schools,  whereby 
I  discourse  and  satisfy  the  reason  of  other  men ; 
another  more  reserved,  and  drawn  from  expe- 
rience, whereby  I  content  mine  own.  Solomon, 
that  complained  of  ignorance  in  the  height  of 
knowledge,  hath  not  only  humbled  my  conceits, 
but  discouraged  my  endeavours.  There  is  yet 
another  conceit  that  hath  sometimes  made  me 
shut  my  books,  which  tells  me  it  is  a  vanity 
to  waste  our  days  in  the  blind  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge ;  it  is  but  attending  a  little  longer,  and 
we  shall  enjoy  that  by  instinct  and  infusion, 
which  we  endeavour  at  here  by  labour  and 
inquisition :  it  is  better  to  sit  down  in  a  modest 
ignorance,  and  rest  contented  with  the  natural 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  137 

blessing  of  our  own  reasons,  than  buy  the  un- 
certain knowledge  of  this  life  with  sweat  and 
vexation,  which  death  gives  every  fool  gratis, 
and  is  an  accessary  of  our  glorification. 

IX.  I  was  never  yet  once  [married],  and  Of  mar- 
commend  their  resolutions  who  never  marry  "Irmony. 
twice  :  not  that  I  disallow  of  second  marriage ; 
as  neither  in  all  cases  of  polygamy,  which,  con- 
sidering some  times,  and  the  unequal  number 
of  both  sexes,  may  be  also  necessary.  The 
whole  world  was  made  for  man,  but  the  twelfth 
part  of  man  for  woman :  man  is  the  whole 
world,  and  the  breath  of  God  ;  woman  the  rib, 
and  crooked  piece  of  man.  I  could  be  content 
that  we  might  procreate  like  trees  without  con- 
junction, or  that  there  were  any  way  to  per- 
petuate the  world  without  this  trivial  and  vulgar 
way  of  coition  :  it  is  the  foolishest  act  a  wise  L--' 
man  commits  in  all  his  life ;  nor  is  there  any- 
thing that  will  more  deject  his  cooled  imagina- 
tion, when  he  shall  consider  what  an  odd  and 
unworthy  piece  of  folly  he  hath  committed. 
I  speak  not  in  prejudice,  nor  am  averse  from 
that  sweet  sex,  but  naturally  amorous  of  all 
that  is  beautiful :  I  can  look  a  whole  day  with 
delight  upon  a  handsome  picture,  though  it  be 
but  of  an  horse.  It  is  my  temper,  and  I  like 
it  the  better,  to  affect  all  harmony;  and  sure 
there  is  music   even   in   the   beauty,  and   the 


138  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

silent  note  which  Cupid  strikes,  far  sweeter 
than  the  sound  of  an  instrument:*  for  there 
is  music  wherever  there  is  harmony,  order,  or 
proportion:  and  thus  far  we  may  maintain  the 
music  of  the  spheres ;  for  those  well-ordered 
motions,  and  regular  paces,  though  they  give 
no  sound  unto  the  ear,  yet  to  the  understand- 
ing they  strike  a  note  most  full  of  harmony.f 
Whatsoever  is  harmonically  composed,  delights 
in  harmony;  which  makes  me  much  distrust 
the  symmetry  of  those  heads  which  declaim 
against  all  church  music.  For  myself,  not  only 
from  my  obedience,  but  my  particular  genius, 
I  do  embrace  it:  for  even  that  vulgar  and 
tavern  music,  which  makes  one  man  merry, 
another  mad,  strikes  in  me  a  deep  fit  of  de- 
votion, and  a  profound  contemplation  of  the 
First  Composer;  there  is  something  in  it  of 
divinity  more  than  the  ear  discovers:  it  is  an 

*  So  Daniell  (Complaint  of  Rosamond): 

"  Ah  Beauty !  Syren  faire,  enchanting  Good, 
Sweet  silent  Rhetorick  of  persuading  eyes; 
Dumbe  eloquence,  whose  power  doth  move  the  blood, 
More  than  the  words  or  wisdom  of  the  wise ; 
Still  Harmony,  whose  diapason  lies 
Within  a  brow ;  the  Key  which  passions  move 
To  ravish  sense  and  play  a  world  in  love." 
"  When  Love  speaks,  the  voice  of  all  the  gods 
Makes  heaven  drowsy  with  the  harmony." 

Love's  Labour  's  Lost,  iv.  3. 
t  See  Merchant  of  Ven.,  v.  1.    Milton's  Arcades. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  139 

hieroglyphical  and  shadowed  lesson  of  the  whole 
world,  and  creatures  of  God;  such  a  melody 
to  the  ear,  as  the  whole  world,  well  understood, 
would  afford  the  understanding.*  In  brief,  it 
is  a  sensible  fit  of  that  harmony  which  intel- 
lectually sounds  in  the  ears  of  God.  It  unties 
the  ligaments  of  my  frame,  takes  me  to  pieces, 
dilates  me  out  of  myself,  and  by  degrees,  me- 
thinks,  resolves  me  into  Heaven.  I  will  not 
say,  with  Plato,  the  soul  is  an  harmony,  but 
harmonica!,  and  hath  its  nearest  sympathy  unto 
music :  thus  some,  whose  temper  of  body  agrees 
and  humours  the  constitution  of  their  souls, 
are  born  poets,  though  indeed  all  are  naturally 
inclined  unto  rhythm,  f  This  made  Tacitus, 
in  the  very  first  line  of  his  story,  fell  upon  a 


*  "  Is  not  God's  Universe  a  Symbol  of  the  Godlike  j  is  not  Im- 
mensity a  Temple ;  is  not  Man's  History,  and  Men's  History,  a 
perpetual  Evangel  ?  Listen,  and  for  Organ-music  thou  wilt  ever, 
as  of  old,  hear  the  Morning  Stars  sing  together."  —  Sartor  Ke- 
sartus,  p.  299. 

t  "  The  old  musician,  who,  rather  figuratively  we  may  sup- 
pose, than  with  philosophical  seriousness,  declared  the  soul  itself 
to  be  nothing  but  harmony,  provoked  the  sprightly  remark  of  Cicero, 
that  he  drew  his  philosophy  from  the  Art  which  he  professed;  but  if, 
without  departing  from  his  own  art,  he  had  merely  described  the 
human  frame  as  the  noblest  and  sweetest  of  musical  instruments, 
endued  with  a  natural  disposition  to  resonance  and  sympathy, 
alternately  affecting  and  affected  by  the  soul  which  pervades  it, 
his  description  might,  perhaps,  have  been  physically  just,  and 
certainly  ought  not  to  have  been  hastily  ridiculed." — Asiatic 
Researches,  vol.  iii.  p.  56. 


140  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

verse ;  *  and  Cicero,  the  worst   of  poets,   but 

declaiming  for  a   poet,  falls   in  the  very  first 

OurPhy-    sentence  upon  a  perfect   hexameter,  f      I  feel 

thTgenrrai  not  m  me  tnose  sordid  and  unchristian  desires 

cause  of      of  my  profession  ;   I   do   not   secretly  implore 

humanity  -i         «   i       p  l  •    •  p 

at  heart.  and  wish  for  plagues,  rejoice  at  tammes,  re- 
volve ephemerides  and  almanacks  in  expecta- 
tion of  malignant  aspects,  fatal  conjunctions,  and 
eclipses :  I  rejoice  not  at  unwholesome  springs, 
nor  unseasonable  winters :  my  prayer  goes  with 
the  husbandman's ;  I  desire  everything  in  its 
proper  season,  that  neither  men  nor  the  times 
be  out  of  temper.  Let  me  be  sick  myself, 
if  sometimes  the  malady  of  my  patient  be  not 
a  disease  unto  me ;  I  desire  rather  to  cure  his 
infirmities  than  my  own  necessities:  where  I 
do  him  no  good,  methinks  it  is  scarce  honest 
gaiii ;  though  I  confess  't  is  but  the  worthy 
salary  of  our  well-intended  endeavours.  I  am 
not  only  ashamed,  but  heartily  sorry,  that,  be- 
sides death,  there  are  diseases  incurable :  yet 
not  for  my  own  sake,  or  that  they  be  beyond 
my  art,  but  for  the  general  cause  and  sake  of 
humanity,  whose  common  cause  I  apprehend 
as  mine  own.  And  to  speak  more  generally, 
those  three  noble  professions  which  all  civil 
commonwealths  do  honour  are  raised  upon  the 

*   Urbem  Romam  injrrincipio  reges  habuere.     Annates,  i.  1. 
f  In  qua  me  non  inficior  mediocriler  esse.    Pro  Archia. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  141 

fall  of  Adam,  and  are  not  exempt  from  their 
infirmities ;  there  are  not  only  diseases  incura- 
ble in  physic,  but  cases  indissolvable  in  laws, 
vices  incorrigible  in  divinity.  If  general  coun- 
cils may  err,  I  do  not  see  why  particular  courts 
should  be  infallible:  their  perfectest  rules  are 
raised  upon  the  erroneous  reasons  of  man ;  and 
the  laws  of  one  do  but  condemn  the  rules  of 
another;  as  Aristotle  ofttimes  the  opinions  of 
his  predecessors,  because,  though  agreeable  to 
reason,  yet  were  they  not  consonant  to  his  own 
rules,  and  the  logic  of  his  proper  principles. 
Again,  to  speak  nothing  of  the  sin  against  the  St.  Matt. 
Holy  Ghost,  whose  cure  not  only,  but  whose  g"'Ma"rk 
nature,  is  unknown ;  I  can  cure  the  gout  or  *»•  28. 
stone  in  some,  sooner  than  Divinity,  pride  or 
avarice  in  others.  I  can  cure  vices  by  physic 
when  they  remain  incurable  by  divinity;  and 
they  shall  obey  my  pills  when  they  contemn 
their  precepts.  I  boast  nothing,  but  plainly 
say,  we  all  labour  against  our  own  cure ;  for 
death  is  the  cure  of  all  diseases.  There  is  no 
catJiolicon  or  universal  remedy  I  know,  but  this  ; 
which,  though  nauseous  to  queasie  stomachs, 
yet  to  prepared  appetites  is  nectar,  and  a  pleas- 
ant potion  of  immortality. 

X.  For  my  conversation,  it  is  like  the  sun's,  ourPhysi- 
with  all  men,  and  with  a  friendly  aspect  to  good  c[™ think" 

«/         x  o  eth  no  man 

and  bad.     Methinks  there  is  no  man  bad,  and  so  bad  but 


142  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

that  there  the  worst,  best ;  that  is,  while  they  are  kept 
him°— m  within  the  circle  of  those  qualities  wherein  they 
are  good:  there  is  no  man's  mind  of  such  dis- 
cordant and  jarring  a  temper,  to  which  a  tuna- 
ble disposition  may  not  strike  a  harmony.  Mag- 
nce  virtutes,  nee  minora  vitia :  it  is  the  posie  * 
of  the  best  natures,  and  may  be  inverted  on 
the  worst.  There  are  in  the  most  depraved 
and  venomous  dispositions,* certain  pieces  that' 
remain  untouched,  which  by  an  antiperistasis 
become  more  excellent,  or  by  the  excellency  of 
their  antipathies  are  able  to  preserve,  them- 
selves from  the  contagion  of  their  enemy  vices, 
and  persist  entire  beyond  the  general  corrup- 
tion. For  it  is  also  thus  in  Nature.  The  great- 
est balsams  do  lie  enveloped  in  the  bodies  of 
the  most  powerful  corrosives :  I  say,  moreover, 
and  I  ground  upon  experience,  that  poisons 
contain  within  themselves  their  own  antidote, 
and  that  which  preserves  them  from  the  venom 
of  themselves,  without  which  they  were  not 
deleterious  to  others  only,  but  to  themselves 
and  feareth  also.  But  it  is  the  corruption  that  I  fear  within 
corr^tion  me>  not  tne  contagion  of  commerce  without  me. 
more  than  'Xis  that  unruly  regiment  within  me,  that  will 
from  destroy  me;   'tis  I  that  do  infect  myself;  the 

others.        man  without  a  navel  yet  lives  in  me ;  f  I  feel 

*  Posie.    The  motto  on  a  ring.     Cf.  Hamlet,  iii.  2.    Mer.  of 
Ven.,  v.  1. 

f   That  is,  the  old  Adam. 


^       OF  THE         "y 

RELIGIO  MEDlttjJ  N  I  V  ?  U3 

Vv   & A  OIF  v 

that  original  canker  corrode  and  devour  me; 
and  therefore  defenda  me  Bios  de  me,  Lord,  de- 
liver me  from  myself,  is  a  part  of  my  litany, 
and  the  first  voice  of  my  retired  imaginations. 
There  is  no  man  alone,  because  every  man  is  a 
microcosm,  and  carries  the  whole  world  about 
him;  Nunquam  minus  solus  quam  cum  solus, 
though  it  be  the  apophthegm  of  a  wise  man,* 
is  yet  true  in  the  mouth  of  a  fool ;  for  indeed, 
though  in  a  wilderness,  a  man  is  never  alone, 
not  only  because  he  is  with  himself  and  his  own 
thoughts,  but  because  he  is  with  the  devil,  who 
ever  consorts  with  our  solitude,  and  is  that  un- 
ruly rebel  that  musters  up  those  disordered 
motions  which  accompany  our  sequestered  im- 
aginations :  and  to  speak  more  narrowly,  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  solitude,  nor  anything  that 
can  be  said  to  be  alone  and  by  itself,  but  God, 
who  is  his  own  circle,  and  can  subsist  by  him- 
self; all  others,  besides  their  dissimilary  and 
heterogeneous  parts,  which  in  a  manner  multi- 
ply their  natures,  cannot  subsist  without  the 
concourse  of  God,  and  the  society  of  that  hand 
which  doth  uphold  their  natures.  In  brief, 
there  can  be  nothing  truly  alone  and  by  itself, 
which  is  not  truly  one ;  and  such  is  only  God : 
all  others  do  transcend  an  unity,  and  so  by  con- 
sequence are  many. 

*  Publius  Scipio.     Cic.  de  Off.,  lib.  iii. 


144  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

Man's  life        xi.  N ow  for  my  life,  it  is  a  miracle  of  thirty 

a  constant 

miracle,  years,  which  to  relate,  were  not  a  history,  but 
a  piece  of  poetry,  and  would  sound  to  common 
ears  like  a  fable :  for  the  world,  I  count  it  not 
an  inn,  but  an  hospital ;  and  a  place  not  to  live, 
but  to  die  in.  The  world  that  I  regard  is  my- 
self; it  is  the  microcosm  of  mine  own  frame  that 
I  cast  mine  eye  on ;  for  the  other,  I  use  it  but 
like  my  globe,  and  turn  it  round  sometimes  for 
my  recreation.  Men  that  look  upon  my  out- 
side, perusing  only  my  condition  and  fortunes, 
do  err  in  my  altitude ;  for  I  am  above  Atlas  his 
shoulders.  The  Earth  is  a  point  not  only  in 
respect  of  the  heavens  above  us,  but  of  that 
heavenly  and  celestial  part  within  us :  that  mass 
of  flesh  that  circumscribes  me,  limits  not  my 
mind :  that  surface  that  tells  the  heavens  it  hath 
an  end,  cannot  persuade  me  I  have  any :  I  take 
my  circle  to  be  above  three  hundred  and  sixty ; 
though  the  number  of  the  arc  do  measure  my 
body,  it  comprehendeth  not  my  mind :  whilst  I 
study  to  find  how  I  am  a  microcosm,  or  little 
world,  I  find  myself  something  more  than  the 
great.  There  is  surely  a  piece  of  divinity  in 
us,  something  that  was  before  the  elements,  and 
owes  no  homage  unto  the  sun.     Nature  tells  me 

Gen. i. 27.  I  am  the  image  of  God,  as  well  as  Scripture: 
he  that  understands  not  thus  much,  hath  not 
his  introduction  or  first  lesson,  and  is  yet  to 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  145 

begin  the  alphabet  of  man.  Let  me  not  injure 
the  felicity  of  others,  if  I  say  I  am  as  happy  as 
any :  Ruat  coelum,  fiat  voluntas  tua,  salveth  all ; 
so  that  whatsoever  happens,  it  is  but  what  our 
daily  prayers  desire.  In  brief,  I  am  content; 
and  what  should  Providence  add  more  ?  Surely 
this  is  it  we  call  happiness,  and  this  do  I  enjoy ; 
with  this  I  am  happy  in  a  dream,  and  as  con- 
tent to  enjoy  a  happiness  in  a  fancy,  as  others 
in  a  more  apparent  truth  and  reality.  There  is  of  Dreams, 
surely  a  nearer  apprehension  of  anything  that 
delights  us  in  our  dreams,  than  in  our  waked 
senses:  without  this  I  were  unhappy;  for  my 
awaked  judgment  discontents  me,  ever  whisper- 
ing unto  me,  that  I  am  from  my  friend;  but 
my  friendly  dreams  in  the  night  requite  me, 
and  make  me  think  I  am  within  his  arms.  I 
thank  God  for  my  happy  dreams,  as  I  do  for 
my  good  rest,  for  there  is  a  satisfaction  in  them 
unto  reasonable  desires,  and  such  as  can  be 
content  with  a  fit  of  happiness  :  and  surely  it  is 
not  a  melancholy  conceit  to  think  we  are  all 
asleep  in  this  world,  and  that  the  conceits  of 
this  life  are  as  mere  dreams  to  those  of  the 
next ;  as  the  phantasms  of  the  night,  to  the  con- 
ceits of  the  day.  There  is  an  equal  delusion 
in  both,  and  the  one  doth  but  seem  to  be  the 
emblem  or  picture  of  the  other :  we  are  some- 
what more  than  ourselves  in  our  sleeps,  and 
10 


UQ  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

the  slumber  of  the  body  seems  to  be  but  the 
waking  of  the  soul.  It  is  the  ligation  of  sense, 
but  the  liberty  of  reason ;  and  our  waking  con- 
ceptions do  not  match  the  fancies  of  our  sleeps. 
At  my  nativity  my  ascendant  was  the  watery 
sign  of  Scorpius;  I  was  born  in  the  planetary 
hour  of  Saturn,  and  I  think  I  have  a  piece  of 
that  leaden  planet  in  me.*  I  am  no  way  face- 
tious, nor  disposed  for  the  mirth  and  galliardize 
of  company ;  yet  in  one  dream  I  can  compose 
a  whole  comedy,  behold  the  action,  and  appre- 
hend the  jests,  and  laugh  myself  awake  at  the 
conceits  thereof.  Were  my  memory  as  faithful 
as  my  reason  is  then  fruitful,  I  would  never 
study  but  in  my  dreams ;  and  this  time  also 
would  I  choose  for  my  devotions  :  but  our  gross- 
er memories  have  then  so  little  hold  of  our 
abstracted  understandings,  that  they  forget  the 
story,  and  can  only  relate  to  our  awaked  souls 
a  confused  and  broken  tale  of  that  that  hath 
passed.  Aristotle,  who  hath  written  a  singular 
tract  of  sleep,  hath  not,  me  thinks,  thoroughly 
defined  it;  nor  yet  Galen,  though  he  seem  to 
have  corrected  it ;  for  those  noctambuloes  and 
night-walkers,  though  in  their  sleep,  do  yet 
enjoy  the  action  of  their  senses :  we  must  there- 
fore say  that  there  is  something  in  us  that  is 
not  in  the  jurisdiction  of  Morpheus;  and  that 

*  Cf.  Hor.  Od.  ii.  xvii.  17. 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  147 

those  abstracted  and  ecstatic  souls  do  walk  about 
in  their  own  corps,  as  spirits  with  the  bodies 
they  assume,  wherein  they  seem  to  hear,  see, 
and  feel,  though  indeed  the  organs  are  destitute 
of  sense,  and  their  natures  of  those  faculties 
that  should  inform  them.  Thus  it  is  observed, 
that  men  sometimes,  upon  the  hour  of  their 
departure,  do  speak  and  reason  above  them- 
selves. For  then  the  soul,  beginning  to  be 
freed  from  the  ligaments  of  the  body,  begins  to 
reason  like  herself,  and  to  discourse  in  a  strain 
above  mortality.* 

XII.  We  term  sleep  a  death;  and  yet  it  is  Of  sleep. 

*  That  the  soul  is  endowed  with  clearer  faculties  just  before 
its  separation  from  the  body,  is  an  opinion  of  great  antiquity. 
See  Bishop  Newton's  fourth  Dissertation  on  Prophecy,  and  com- 
pare Daniell  (Civil  Wars,  iii.  62),  1562. 

Whether  the  soul  receives  intelligence, 
By  her  near  Genius,  of  the  body's  end, 
And  so  imparts  a  sadness  to  the  sense, 
Foregoing  ruin,  whereto  it  doth  tend } 
Or  whether  Nature  else  hath  conference 
With  profound  Sleep,  and  so  doth  warning  send, 
By  prophetizing  dreams,  what  hurt  is  near, 
And  gives  the  heavy  careful  heart  to  fear." 
And  Waller: 

The  soul's  dark  cottage,  battered  and  decayed, 
Lets  in  new  light  thro'  chinks  that  time  hath  made: 
Stronger  by  weakness,  wiser  men  become, 
As  they  draw  near  to  their  eternal  home. 
Leaving  the  old,  both  worlds  at  once  they  view, 
That  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  new." 

Compare  Shakspeare' s  King  Richard  II.,  ii.  1. 


148  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

waking  that  kills  us,  and  destroys  those  spirits 
that  are  the  house  of  life.  'T  is  indeed  a  part 
of  life  that  best  expresseth  death  ;  for  every 
man  truly  lives,  so  long  as  he  acts  his  nature, 
or  some  way  makes  good  the  faculties  of  him- 
self. Themistocles,  therefore,  that  slew  his  sol- 
dier in  his  sleep,  was  a  merciful  executioner: 
'tis  a  kind  of  punishment  the  mildness  of  no 
laws  hath  invented:  I  wonder  the  fancy  of 
Lucan  and  Seneca  did  not  discover  it.  It  is 
that  death  by  which  we  may  be  literally  said 
to  die  daily;  a  death  which  Adam  died  be- 
fore his  mortality ;  a  death  whereby  we  live  a 
middle  and  moderating  point  between  life  and 
death:  in  fine,  so  like  death,  I  dare  not  trust 
it  without  my  prayers,  and  an  half  adieu  unto 
the  world,  and  take  my  farewell  in  a  colloquy 
with  God. 

The  night  is  come;  like  to  the  day, 
Depart  not  thou,  great  God,  away. 
Let  not  my  sins,  black  as  the  night, 
Eclipse  the  lustre  of  thy  light. 
Keep  still  in  my  horizon :  for  to  me 
The  sun  makes  not  the  day,  but  Thee. 
Thou  whose  nature  cannot  sleep, 
On  my  temples  sentry  keep : 
Guard  me  'gainst  those  watchful  foes, 
Whose  eyes  are  open  while  mine  close. 
Let  no  dreams  my  head  infest, 
But  such  as  Jacob's  temples  blest. 
Whilst  I  do  rest,  my  soul  advance; 
Make  my  sleep  a  holy  trance : 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  149 

That  I  may,  my  rest  being  wrought, 
Awake  into  some  holy  thought. 
And  with  as  active  vigour  run 
My  course,  as  doth  the  nimble  sun. 
Sleep  is  a  death,  0  make  me  try, 
By  sleeping,  what  it  is  to  die: 
And  as  gently  lay  my  head 
On  my  grave,  as  now  my  bed. 
Howe'er  I  rest,  great  God,  let  me 
Awake  again  at  last  with  Thee. 
And  thus  assured,  behold  I  lie 
Securely,  or  to  wake  or  die. 
These  are  my  drowsy  days ;  in  vain 
I  do  now  wake  to  sleep  again : 
0  come  that  hour,  when  I  shall  never 
Sleep  thus  again,  but  wake  for  ever. 

This  is  the  dormitive  I  take  to  bedward;  I 
need  no  other  laudanum  than  this  to  make  me 
sleep ;  after  which  I  close  mine  eyes  in  security, 
content  to  take  my  leave  of  the  sun,  and  sleep 
unto  the  resurrection. 

XIII.  The  method  I  should  use  in  distribu-  justice. 
tive  justice,  I  often  observe  in  commutative,  and 
keep  a  geometrical  proportion  in  both,  whereby 
becoming  equable  to  others,   I  become  unjust 
to   myself,  and  supererogate   in   that   common 
principle,  Do  unto  others  as  thou  wouldst  be  done 
unto  thyself.     I  was  not  born  unto  riches,  nei-  Avarice  a 
ther  is  it,  I  think,  my  star  to  be  wealthy;  or  ™ic^U( 
if  it  were,  the  freedom  of  my  mind,  and  frank- 
ness of  my  disposition,  were  able  to  contradict 
and  cross  my  fates:  for  to  me,  avarice  seems 
not  so  much  a  vice,  as  a  deplorable  piece  of 


150  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

madness  ;  *  to  conceive  ourselves  urinals,  or  be 
persuaded  that  we  are  dead,  is  not  so  ridiculous, 
nor  so  many  degrees  beyond  the  power  of  helle- 
bore,! as  this.  The  opinions  of  theory,  and 
positions  of  men,  are  not  so  void  of  reason,  as 
their  practised  conclusions :  some  have  held  that 
snow  is  black,  that  the  earth  moves,  that  the 
soul  is  air,  fire,  water;  but  all  this  is  philoso- 
phy, and  there  is  no  delirium,  if  we  do  but 
speculate  the  folly  and  indisputable  dotage  of 
avarice.  J  To  that  subterraneous  idol,  and  god 
of  the  earth,  I  do  confess  I  am  an  atheist; 
I  cannot  persuade  myself  to  honour  that  the 
world  adores  ;  whatsoever  virtue  its  prepared 
substance  may  have  within  my  body,  it  hath 
no  influence  nor  operation  without:  I  would 
not  entertain  a  base  design,  or  an  action  that 
should  call  me  villain,  for  the  Indies  ;  and  for 
this  only  do  I  love  and  honour  my  own  soul, 
and  have  methinks  two  arms  too  few  to  em- 
roor  men  brace   myself.      §  Aristotle   is   too  severe,  that 

*  "  That  a  man  who  is  Deputy  Lieutenant  of  the  whole  world, 
should  not  act  like  a  Prince  within  his  territories,  is  a  thing  to 
be  counted  more  a  matter  of  prodigy  than  proof."  —  Religio  Juris- 
prudents. 

f  Hellebore  was  thought  to  be  a  specific  against  madness. 

$  i.  e.  There  is  nothing  worthy  of  the  name  delirium  when 
compared  with  the  folly,  &c. 

§  There  is  an  error  here.  Aristotle  distinctly  says  (Eth.  iv.  2) 
that  tnie  liberality  consists  not  in  the  magnitude  of  the  gift,  but 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  151 

will  not  allow  us  to  be  truly  liberal  without  maybe 
wealth,  and  the  bountiful  hand  of  fortune:  if  1  ra' 
this  be  true,  I  must  confess  I  am  charitable  only 
in   my   liberal   intentions,  and   bountiful   well- 
wishes.     But  if  the  example  of  the  mite  be  not  st.  Luke 
only  an  act  of  wonder,  but  an  example  of  the  XX1- 
noblest  charity,  surely  poor  men  may  also  build  and  may 

i-i  ii  ii  i  T   even  build 

hospitals,  and  the  rich  alone  have  not  erected  Hospitals 
cathedrals.      I   have   a   private   method   which  and  Catbe" 

r  #  drals. 

others  observe  not;  I  take  the  opportunity  of 
myself  to  do  good ;  I  borrow  occasion  of  charity 
from  my  own  necessities,  and  supply  the  wants 
of  others,  when  I  am  in  most  need  myself;  * 
for  it  is  an  honest  stratagem  to  take  advantage 
of  ourselves,  and  so  to  husband  the  acts  of 
virtue,  that  where  they  were  defective  in  one 
circumstance,  they  may  repay  their  want,  and 
multiply  their  goodness  in  another.f  I  have 
not  Peru  in  my  desires,  but  a  competence  and 
ability  to  perform  those  good  works,  to  which 
the  Almighty  hath  inclined  my  nature.  He 
is  rich,  who  hath  enough  to  be  charitable ;  and 
it  is  hard  to  be  so  poor,  that  a  noble  mind  may 
not  find  a  way  to  this  piece  of  goodness.     He 


in  the  disposition  of  the  giver:  but  he  says  (Eth.  iv.  5)  that  a 
man  with  slender  means  cannot  be  munificent. 

*  When  I  am  reduced  to  the  last  tester,  I  love  to  divide  it  with 
the  poor.     MSS.  and  Ed.  1642. 

f  Essays  of  Elia,  1st  part. 


152  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

ProT.  six.   that  giveth  to   the  poor   lendeth  to   the  Lord :  * 
17,  there  is  more   rhetoric   in   that  one  sentence, 

than  in  a  library  of  sermons ;  and  indeed  if 
those  sentences  were  understood  by  the  reader, 
with  the  same  emphasis  as  they  are  delivered 
by  the  Author,  we  need  not  those  volumes  of 
instructions,  but  might  be  honest  by  an  epitome. 
Upon  this  motive  only  I  cannot  behold  a  beggar 
without  relieving  his  necessities  with  my  purse, 
or  his  soul  with  my  prayers ;  these  scenical  and 
accidental  differences  between  us,  cannot  make 
me  forget  that  common  and  untouched  part 
of  us  both :  there  is  under  these  centoes  and 
job  xxxi.  miserable  outsides,  these  mutilate  and  semi-bod- 
ies, a  soul  of  the  same  alloy  with  our  own, 
whose  genealogy  is  God  as  well  as  ours,  and 
in  as  fair  a  way  to  salvation  as  ourselves. f 
Statists  that  labour  to  contrive  a  commonwealth 

*  In  St.  George's  Church,  Doncaster,  is  to  be  seen  this  epi- 
taph :  — 


13-15. 


That  I  spent,  that  I  had: 
That  I  gave,  that  I  have : 
That  I  left,  that  I  lost. 


How  now,  who  is  here  ? 
I,  Robin  of  Doncastere 
And  Margaret  my  fere. 

A.  D.  1579. 
Quoth  Robertus  Byrks,  who  in  this  world  did  reign 
S  score  years  and  7,  and  yet  lived  not  one. 

f  So  Herbert: 

"  Man  is  God's  image ;  but  a  poor  man  is 
Christ's  stamp  to  boot :  both  images  regard. 
God  reckons  for  him,  counts  the  favour  His: 
Write,  So  much  given  to  God:  thou  shalt  be  heard." 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  153 

without  poverty,  take  away  the  object  of  char- 
ity, not  only  not  understanding  the  common-  ^  J1*"* 
wealth  of  a  Christian,  but  forgetting  the  proph-  cf.  Deut. 
ecy  of  Christ. 

XIV.  Now  there  is  another  part  of  charity,  God  alone 
which  is  the  basis  and  pillar  of  this,  and  that  hiseown 
is   the   love   of  God,  for  whom   we   love   our  ^^ > and 
neighbour ;  for  this  I  think  charity,  to  love  God  b0ur  for 
for  himself,  and  our  neighbour  for  God.*     All  God's* 
that  is  truly  amiable  is  God,  or  as  it  were  a 
divided  piece  of  him,  that  retains  a  reflex  or 
shadow  of  himself.     Nor  is  it  strange  that  we 
should  place  affection  on  that  which  is  invisible : 
all  that  we  truly  love  is  thus ;  what  we  adore 
under  affection  of  our  senses,  deserves  not  the 
honour  of  so  pure  a  title.     Thus  we  adore  vir- 
tue, though  to  the  eyes  of  sense  she  be  invisi- 
ble :  thus  that  part  of  our  noble  friends  that  we 
love,  is  not  that  part  that  we  embrace,  but  that 
insensible  part  that  our  arms  cannot  embrace. 
God  being  all  goodness,  can  love  nothing  but 
himself;  he  loves  us  but  for  that  part  which 
is  as  it  were  himself,  and  the  traduction  of  his 
Holy  Spirit.f     Let  us  call  to  assize  the  loves 

*  "  Flatter  not  thyself  in  thy  faith  to  God,  if  thou  wantest 
charity  for  thy  neighbour:  and  think  not  thou  hast  charity  for 
thy  neighbour,  if  thou  wantest  faith  to  God :  where  they  are  not 
both  together,  they  are  both  wanting;  they  are  both  dead  if  once 
divided."  —  Quarles's  Enchiridion,  Cent.  ii.  11.  1650. 

t  "  Every  true  Virtue  is  a  part  of  that  Love  with  which  God 
loveth  himself."  —  Spinosa. 


154  RELIGIO  MEDICI. 

of  our  parents,  the  affection  of  wives  and  chil- 
dren, and  they  are  all  dumb  shows  and  dreams, 
without  reality,  truth,  or  constancy:  for  first, 
there  is  a  strong  bond  of  affection  between  us 
and  our  parents  ;  yet  how  easily  dissolved !  we 
betake  ourselves  to  a  woman,  forget  our  mother 
in  a  wife,  and  the  womb  that  bare  us,  in  that 
that  shall  bear  our  image :  this  woman  blessing 
us  with  children,  our  affection  leaves  the  level 
it  held  before,  and  sinks  from  our  bed  unto  our 
issue  and  picture  of  posterity,  where  affection 
holds  no  steady  mansion.  They  growing  up 
in  years,  desire  our  ends;  or  applying  them- 
selves to  a  woman,  take  a  lawful  way  to  love 
another  better  than  ourselves.  Thus  I  per- 
ceive a  man  may  be  buried  alive,  and  behold 
his  grave  in  his  own  issue, 
ourrhysi-      XV.  I  conclude  therefore  and  say,  there  is 

cian  con-  J 

ciudeth      no  happiness  under  (or,  as  Copernicus  will  have 
ard  dl\-    k*  above)  the  sun,  nor  any  crambe  in  that  re-/ 

clareth  his  y  J  .  / 

belief  that  peated  verity  and  burthen  of  all  the  wisdom 
happtaen°  °^  Solomon,  All  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit ; 
but  iu  God.  there  is  no  felicity  in  that  the  world  adores. 
Aristotle,  whilst  he  labours  to  refute  the  ideas 
of  Plato,  falls  upon  one  himself:  for  his  sum- 
mum  honum  is  a  chimera,  and  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  his  felicity.  That  wherein  God  him- 
self is  happy,  the  holy  angels  are  happy,  in 
whose  defect  the  devils  are  unhappy ;  that  dare 


RELIGIO  MEDICI.  155 

I  call   happiness:   whatsoever   conduceth   unto 
this,  may  with  an  easy  metaphor  deserve  that 
name;  whatsoever  else  the  world  terms  hap- 
piness, is  to  me  a  story  out  of  Pliny,  an  ap- 
parition, or  neat  delusion,  wherein  there  is  no 
more  of  happiness  than  the  name.     Bless  me 
in  this  life  with  but  peace   of  my  conscience, 
command  of  my  affections,  the  love   of  Thy- 
self and   my  dearest   friends,   and   I   shall   be 
happy  enough  to  pity   Caesar.     These   are,    O 
Lord,  the  humble  desires  of  my  most  reason- 
able ambition,  and  all  I  dare  call  happiness  on 
«rth ;  wherein  I  set  no  rule  or  limit  to  thy 
hand   or   providence :    dispose    of  me 
according  to  the  wisdom  of  thy 
pleasure :  thy  will  be  done, 
though   in   my   own 
undoing. 


"* 


Letter  to  a  Friend 


Upon    occasion    of    the    Death 

of  his    intimate 

Friend. 


SITY1] 

Letter  to  a  Friend. 


IVE  me  leave  to  wonder  that  news 
of  this  nature  should  have  such 
heavy  wings  that  you  should  hear 
so  little  concerning  your  dearest 
Friend,  and  that  I  must  make  that  unwilling 
repetition  to  tell  you,  ad  portam  rigidos  calces 
extendit,  that  he  is  dead  and  buried,  and  by 
this  time  no  puny  among  the  mighty  nations 
of  the  dead ;  for  though  he  left  this  world  not 
very  many  days  past,  yet  every  hour  you  know 
largely  addeth  unto  that  dark  society ;  and  con- 
sidering the  incessant  mortality  of  mankind,  you 
cannot  conceive  there  dieth  in  the  whole  earth 
so  few  as  a  thousand  an  hour. 

Although  at  this  distance  you  had  no  early 
account  or  particular  of  his  death,  yet  your 
affection  may  cease  to  wonder  that  you  had 
not   some   secret   sense    or    intimation    thereof 


160  LETTER    TO  A  FRIEND. 

by  dreams,  thoughtful  whisperings,  mercurisms, 
airy  nuncios,  or  sympathetical  insinuations, 
which  many  seem  to  have  had  at  the  death  of 
their  dearest  friends :  for  since  we  find  in  that 
famous  story,*  that  spirits  themselves  were  fain 
to  tell  their  fellows  at  a  distance  that  the  great 
Antonio  was  dead,  we  have  a  sufficient  excuse 
for  our  ignorance  in  such  particulars,  and  must 
rest  content  with  the  common  road,  and  Apjpian 
way  of  knowledge  by  information.  J  Though  the 
uncertainty  of  the  end  of  this  world  hath  con- 
founded all  human  predictions,  yet  they  who 
st.  Matt.     s]la]i  Jive  to  see  the  sun  and  moon   darkened, 

xxiy.  29.  ' 

and  the  stars  to  fall  from  heaven,  will  hardly 
be  deceived  in  the  advent  of  the  last  day ;  and 
therefore  strange  it  is,  that  the  common  fallacy 
of  consumptive  persons,  who  feel  not  themselves 
dying,  and  therefore  still  hope  to  live,  should 
also  reach  their  friends  in  perfect  health  and 
judgment :  that  you  should  be  so  little  acquaint- 
ed with  Plautus  his  sick  complexion,  or  that 
almost  an  Hippocratical  face  should  not  alarum 
you  to  higher  fears,  or  rather  despair,  of  his 
continuation  in  such  an  emaciated  state,  where- 
in medical  predictions  fail  not,  as  sometimes  in 
acute  diseases,  and  wherein  't  is  as  dangerous  to 
be  sentenced  by  a  Physician  as  a  Judge. 

*  In  Plutarch  his  Defect  of  Oracles,  wherein  he  relates  that  a 
Yoice  was  heard  crying  to  mariners  at  sea,  Great  Pan  is  dead. 


LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND.  161 

Upon  my  first  visit  I  was  bold  to  tell  them 
who  had  not  let  fall  all  hopes  of  his  recovery, 
that  in  my  sad  opinion  he  was  not  like  to  be- 
hold a  grasshopper,  much  less  to  pluck  another 
fig;  and  in  no  long  time  after,  seemed  to  dis- 
cover that  odd  mortal  symptom  in  him  not 
mentioned  by  Hippocrates,  that  is,  to  lose  his 
own  face,  and  look  like  some  of  his  near  rela- 
tions :  for  he  maintained  not  his  proper  counte- 
nance, but  looked  like  his  uncle,  the  lines  of 
whose  face  lay  deep  and  invisible  in  his  health- 
ful visage  before :  for  as  from  our  beginning  we 
run  through  variety  of  looks,  before  we  come 
to  consistent  and  settled  faces,  so  before  our 
end,  by  sick  and  languishing  alterations,  we 
put  on  new  visages,  and  in  our  retreat  to  earth 
may  fall  upon  such  looks,  which  from  commu- 
nity of  seminal  originals  were  before  latent 
in  us. 

He  was  fruitlessly  put  in  hope  of  advantage 
by  change  of  air,  and  imbibing  the  pure  aerial 
nitre  of  these  parts ;  and  therefore,  being  so  far 
spent,  he  quickly  found  Sardinia  in  Tivoli,*  and 
the   most   healthful   air  of  little   effect,   where 

*  The  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  Sardinia  was  as  proverbial 
as  the  salubrity  of  Tivoli. 

"  Nullo  fata  loco  possis  excludere :  cum  mors 
Venerit,  in  medio  Tibure  Sardinia  est." 

Mart.  iv.  Ix.  5. 
Cf.  Tac.  Annal.  ii.  85. 
11 


162  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

Death  had  set  her  broad  arrow ;  *  for  he  lived 
not  unto  the  middle  of  May,  and  confirmed  the 
observation  of  Hippocrates  of  that  mortal  time 
of  the  year,  when  the  leaves  of  the  fig-tree 
resemble  a  daw's  claw.  He  is  happily  seated 
who  lives  in  places  whose  air,  earth,  and  water 
promote  not  the  infirmities  of  his  weaker  parts, 
or  is  early  removed  into  regions  that  correct 
them.  He  that  is  tabidly  inclined  were  unwise 
to  pass  his  days  in  Portugal:  cholical  persons 
Avill  find  little  comfort  in  Austria  or  Vienna: 
he  that  is  weak-legged  must  not  be  in  love  with 
Rome,  nor  an  infirm  head  with  Venice  or  Paris. 
Death  hath  not  only  particular  stars  in  heaven, 
but  malevolent  places  on  earth,  which  single 
out  our  infirmities  and  strike  at  our  weaker 
parts ;  in  which  concern,  passager  and  migrant 
birds  have  the  great  advantages,  who  are  natu- 
rally constituted  for  distant  habitations,  whom 
no  seas  nor  places  limit,  but  in  their  appointed 
seasons  will  visit  us  from  Greenland  and  Mount 
Atlas,  and  as  some  think,  even  from  the  An- 
tipodes. 

Though  we  could  not  have  his  life,  yet  we 
missed  not  our  desires  in  his  soft  departure, 
which  was  scarce  an  expiration;  and  his  end 
not  unlike  his  beginning,  when  the  salient  point 

*  In  the  Queen's  forests  the  mark  of  a  broad  arrow  is  set  upon 
such  trees  as  are  to  be  cut  down. 


LETTER    TO  A  FRIEND.  163 

scarce  affords  a  sensible  motion,  and  his  de- 
parture so  like  unto  sleep,  that  he  scarce  needed 
the  civil  ceremony  of  closing  his  eyes ;  contrary 
unto  the  common  way,  wherein  death  draws 
up,  sleep  lets  fall  the  eyelids.  With  what  strife 
and  pains  we  come  into  the  world  we  know 
not,  but  'tis  commonly  no  easy  matter  to  get 
out  of  it :  yet  if  it  could  be  made  out,  that  such 
who  have  easy  nativities  have  commonly  hard 
deaths,  and  contrarily ;  his  departure  was  so 
easy,  that  we  might  justly  suspect  his  birth  was 
of  another  nature,  and  that  some  Juno  sat  Garden  of 
cross-legged  at  his  nativity.  Besides  his  soft  cap.  v' 
death,  the  incurable  state  of  his  disease  might 
somewhat  extenuate  your  sorrow,  who  know 
that  monsters  but  seldom  happen,  miracles  more 
rarelv,  in   Plrvsick.     Angelus  Victorius   gives  videCon- 

V  n  •  -i  •      i     sultationes. 

a  serious  account  of  a  consumptive,  hectical, 
phthisical  woman,  who  was  suddenly  cured  by 
the  intercession  of  Ignatius.  We  read  not  of 
any  in  Scripture  who  in  this  case  applied  unto 
our  Saviour,  though  some  may  be  contained 
in  that  large  expression,  that  He  went  about  st- Matt- 
Galilee  healing  all  manner  of  sickness,  and  all 
manner  of  diseases.  Amulets,  spells,  sigils,  and 
incantations,  practised  in  other  diseases,  are 
seldom  pretended  in  this ;  and  we  find  no  sigil 
in  the  Archidoxis  of  Paracelsus  to  cure  an  ex- 
treme consumption  or  marasmus,  which,  if  other 


164  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

diseases  fail,  will  put  a  period  unto  long  livers, 
and  at  last  makes  dust  of  all.  And  therefore 
the  Stoics  could  not  but  think  that  the  fiery 
principle  would  wear  out  all  the  rest,  and  at 
last  make  an  end  of  the  world ;  which  notwith- 
standing, without  such  a  lingering  period,  the 
Creator  may  effect  at  his  pleasure,  and  to  make 
Reiigio  an  end  of  all  things  on  earth,  and  our  planetical 
'  system  of  the  world,  He  need  but  put  out 
the  sun. 

I  was  not  so  curious  to  entitle  the  stars  unto 
any  concern  of  his  death,  yet  could  not  but 
take  notice  that  he  died  when  the  moon  was 
in  motion  from  the  meridian :  at  which  time, 
an  old  Italian  long  ago  would  persuade  me, 
that  the  greatest  part  of  men  died :  but  herein 
I  confess  I  could  never  satisfy  my  curiosity,  al- 
though from  the  time  of  tides  in  places  upon  or 
near  the  sea,  there  may  be  considerable  deduc- 
tions, and  Pliny  hath  an  odd  and  remarkable 
passage  concerning  the  death  of  men  and  ani- 
mals upon  the  recess  or  ebb  of  the  sea.*  How- 
ever, certain  it  is,  he  died  in  the  dead  and  deep 
part  of  the  night,  when  Nbx  might  be  most 
apprehensibly  said  to  be  the  daughter  of  Chaos, 
the  mother  of  Sleep  and  Death,  according  to 
old  genealogy;  and  so  went  out  of  this  world 

*  Cf.  Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  ii.  98.    Mead  de  Jmpeiio  Solis  aique  Luna. 
Shaks.  Henry  Vth,  ii.  3. 


Hesiod, 
Theog.  756. 


LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND.  165 

about  that  hour  when  our  blessed  Saviour  en- 
tered it,  and  about  what  time  many  conceive 
he  will  return  again  unto  it.  Cardan  hath  a 
peculiar  and  no  hard  observation  from  a  man's 
hand,  to  know  whether  he  was  born  in  the  day 
or  night,  which  I  confess  holdeth  in  my  own ; 
and  Scaliger  to  that  purpose  hath  another  from 
the  tip  of  the  ear.  Most  men  are  begotten  in 
the  night,  animals  in  the  day ;  but  whether  more 
persons  have  been  born  in  the  night  or  the  day, 
were  a  curiosity  undecidable,  though  more  have 
perished  by  violent  deaths  in  the  day,  yet  in 
natural  dissolutions  both  times  may  hold  an 
indifferency,  at  least  but  contingent  inequality. 
The  whole  course  of  time  runs  out  in  the  na- 
tivity and  death  of  things ;  which  whether  they 
happen  by  succession  or  coincidence,  are  best 
computed  by  the  natural,  not  artificial,  day. 

That  Charles  the  Fifth  was  crowned  upon  the 
day  of  his  nativity,  it  being  in  his  own  power 
so  to  order  it,  makes  no  singular  animadver- 
sion ;  but  that  he  should  also  take  King  Francis 
prisoner  upon  that  day  was  an  unexpected  co- 
incidence, which  made  the  same  remarkable. 
Antipater,  who  had  an  anniversary  feast  every 
year  upon  his  birthday,  needed  no  astrological 
revolution  to  know  what  day  he  should  die  on. 
When  the  fixed  stars  have  made  a  revolution 
unto  the  points  from  whence  they  first  set  out, 


166  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

some  of  the  ancients  thought  the  world  would 
have  an  end,  which  was  a  kind  of  dying  upon 
the  day  of  its  nativity.  Now  the  disease  pre- 
vailing and  swiftly  advancing  about  the  time  of 
his  nativity,  some  were  of  opinion  that  he  would 
leave  the  world  on  the  day  he  entered  into  it : 
but  this  being  a  lingering  disease,  and  creeping 
softly  on,  nothing  critical  was  found  or  expect- 
ed, and  he  died  not  before  fifteen  days  after. 
Nothing  is  more  common  with  infants  than  to 
die  on  the  day  of  their  nativity,  to  behold  the 
worldly  hours,  and  but  the  fractions  thereof; 
and  even  to  perish  before  their  nativity  in  the 
hidden  world  of  the  womb,  and  before  their 
good  angel  is  conceived  to  undertake  them. 
But  in  persons  who  outlive  many  years,  and 
when  there  are  no  less  than  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days  to  determine  their  lives  every 
year,  —  that  the  first  day  should  make  the  last, 
that  the  tail  of  the  snake  should  return  into  its 
mouth  precisely  at  that  time,  and  they  should 
wind  up  upon  the  day  of  their  nativity,  —  is 
indeed  a  remarkable  coincidence,  which,  though 
astrology  hath  taken  witty  pains  to  salve,  yet 
hath  it  been  very  wary  in  making  predictions 
of  it.*  In  this  consumptive  condition,  and  re- 
markable extenuation,  he   came   to   be   almost 

*  This  remarkable  coincidence  happened  in  our  author's  case : 
he  himself  died  on  the  seventy-sixth  anniversary  of  his  birthday. 


LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND.  167 

half  himself,  and  left  a  great  part  behind  him 
which  he  carried  not  to  the  grave.  And  though 
that  story  of  Duke  John  Ernestus  Mansfield  Turkish 
be  not  so  easily  swallowed  that  at  his  death  his  p>  1488.' 
heart  was  not  found  to  be  so  big  as  a  nut ;  yet 
if  the  bones  of  a  good  skeleton  weigh  little 
more  than  twenty  pounds,  his  inwards  and  flesh 
remaining  could  make  no  bouffage,  but  a  light 
bit  for  the  grave.  I  never  more  lively  beheld 
the  starved  characters  of  Dante  in  any  living 
face ;  *  an  aruspex  might  have  read  a  lecture 
upon  him  without  exenteration,  his  flesh  being 
so  consumed,  that  he  might  in  a  manner  have 
discerned  his  bowels  without  opening  of  him : 
so  that  to  be  carried,  sextd  cervice,  to  the  grave, 
was  but  a  civil  unnecessity  ;  and  the  comple- 
ments of  the  coffin  might  outweigh  the  subject 
of  it.  Omnibonus  Ferrarius,  in  mortal  dysen-  Dearte 
teries  of  children,  looks  for  a  spot  behind  the  infantium. 
ear ;  in  consumptive  diseases  some  eye  the  com- 
plexion of  moles ;  Cardan  eagerly  views  the 
nails,  some  the  lines  of  the  hand,  the  thenar 
or  muscle  of  the  thumb ;  some  are  so  curious  as 

*  Dante,  describing  a  very  emaciated  countenance,  says : 
"  Who  reads  the  name 
Of  man  upon  his  forehead,  there  the  M 
Had  traced  most  plainly." 

Purg.  c.  xxiii.  28. 

Alluding  to  the  conceit  that  the  letters  0  M  0  may  be  traced  in 
the  human  face.     Cf.  Hydriotaphia,  cap.  3. 


168  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

to  observe  the  depth  of  the  throat-pit,  how  the 
proportion  varieth  of  the  small  of  the  legs  unto 
the  calf,  or  the  compass  of  the  neck  unto  the 
circumference  of  the  head :  but  all  these,  with 
many  more,  were  so  drowned  in  a  mortal  vis- 
age, and  last  face  of  Hippocrates,  that  a  weak 
physiognomist  might  say  at  first  eye,  this  was 
Aui.  Geii.    a  face  0f  earth,  and  that  Morta  had  set  her  hard 

iii  33 

seal  upon  his  temples,  easily  perceiving  what 
caricatura  draughts  Death  makes  upon  pined 
faces,  and  unto  what  an  unknown  degree  a  man 
may  live  backward. 

Though  the  beard  be  only  made  a  distinction 
Physioio-  of  sex,  and  sign  of  masculine  heat  by  Ulmus, 
humanae.  ve*  the  precocity  and  early  growth  thereof  in 
him  was  not  to  be  liked  in  reference  unto  long 
life.  Lewis,  that  virtuous  but  unfortunate  King 
of  Hungary,  who  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of 
Mohacz,  was  said  to  be  born  without  a  skin, 
to  have  bearded  at  fifteen,  and  to  have  shown 
some  gray  hairs  about  twenty ;  from  whence  the 
diviners  conjectured,  that  he  would  be  spoiled 
of  his  kingdom  and  have  but  a  short  life :  but 
hairs  make  fallible  predictions,  and  many  tem- 
ps, xc.  10.  pies  early  gray  have  outlived  the  Psalmist's 
period.  Hairs  which  have  most  amused  me 
have  not  been  in  the  face  or  head,  but  on  the 
back,  and  not  in  men  but  children,  as  I  long 
ago   observed   in   that   endemial   distemper   of 


LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND.  169 

little  children  in  Languedoc,  called  the   Mor-  SeePicotus 

°  de  Rheu- 

gellons,  wherein  they  critically  break  out  with  matismo. 
harsh  hairs  on  their  backs,  which  takes  off  the 
unquiet  symptoms  of  the  disease,  and  delivers 
them  from  coughs  and  convulsions. 

The  Egyptian  mummies  that  I  have  seen 
have  had  their  mouths  open,  and  somewhat 
gaping,  which  affordeth  a  good  opportunity  to 
view  and  observe  their  teeth,  wherein  'tis  not 
easy  to  find  any  wanting  or  decayed ;  and  there- 
fore in  Egypt,  where  one  man  practised  but  one 
operation,  or  the  diseases  but  of  single  parts, 
it  must  needs  be  a  barren  profession  to  confine 
unto  that  of  drawing  of  teeth,  and  little  better 
than  to  have  been  tooth-drawer  unto  King  Pyr- 
rhus,  who  had  but  two  in  his  head.*  How 
the  Bannyans  of  India  maintain  the  integrity  of 
those  parts,  I  find  not  particularly  observed ; 
who  notwithstanding  have  an  advantage  of  their 
preservation  by  abstaining  from  all  flesh,  and 
employing  their  teeth  in  such  food  unto  which 
they  may  seem  at  first  framed,  from  their  fig- 
ure and  conformation  :  but  sharp  and  corroding 
rheums  had  so  early  mouldered  those  rocks  and 
hardest  parts  of  his  fabric,  that  a  man  might 
well  conceive  that  his  years  were  never  like 


*  "  Pyrrhus  had  an  air  of  majesty  rather  terrible  than  august. 
Instead  of  teeth  in  his  upper  jaw  he  had  one  continued  bone, 
marked  with  small  lines  resembling  the  divisions  of  a  row  of 
teeth."  —  Plutarch. 


170  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

to  double,  or  twice  tell  over  his  teeth.  Cor- 
ruption had  dealt  more  severely  with  them  than 
sepulchral  fires  and  smart  flames  with  those 
of  burnt  bodies  of  old ;  for  in  the  burnt  frag- 
ments  of  urns  which  I  have  enquired  into,  al- 
though I  seem  to  find  few  incisors  or  shearers, 
yet  the  dog  teeth  and  grinders  do  notably  resist 
those  fires.  In  the  years  of  his  childhood  he 
had  languished  under  the  disease  of  his  coun- 
try, the  rickets;  after  which  notwithstanding, 
many  have  become  strong  and  active  men ; 
but  whether  any  have  attained  unto  very  great 
years,  the  disease  is  scarce  so  old  as  to  afford 
good  observation.  Whether  the  children  of  the 
English  plantations  be  subject  unto  the  same  in- 
firmity, may  be  worth  the  observing.  Wheth- 
er lameness  and  halting  do  still  increase  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Rovigno  in  Istria,  I  know 
not;  yet  scarce  twenty  years  ago  Monsieur  du 
Loyr  observed,  that  a  third  part  of  that  people 
halted :  but  too  certain  it  is  that  the  rickets  in- 
creaseth  among  us ;  the  small-pox  grows  more 
pernicious  than  the  great ;  the  king's  purse 
knows  that  the  king's  evil  grows  more  com- 
mon. Quartan  agues  are  become  no  stran- 
gers in  Ireland,  more  common  and  mortal  in 
England:  and  though  the  ancients  gave  that 
disease  very  good   words,*  yet  now  that   bell 

*  da(j)a\e(TTaTos  8e  ndvrcov  Kal  prfiaros   Kai  paKporaros 
6  TerapTaios.     Hippoc.  Epidera.  i.  86. 


LETTER   TO  A  FRIEND.  171 

makes  no  strange  sound  which  rings  out  for 
the  effects  thereof. 

Some  think  there  were  few  consumptions  in 
the  old  world,  when  men  lived  much  upon 
milk  ;  and  that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this 
island  were  less  troubled  with  coughs  when  they 
went  naked  and  slept  in  caves  and  woods,  than 
men  now  in  chambers  and  feather-beds.  Plato 
will  tell  us  that  there  was  no  such  disease  as  a 
catarrh  in  Homer's  time,  and  that  it  was  but 
new  in  Greece  in  his  age.  Polydore  Virgil 
delivereth  that  pleurisies  were  rare  in  England, 
who  lived  in  the  days  of  Henry  the  Eighth. 
Some  will  allow  no  diseases  to  be  new,  others 
think  that  many  old  ones  are  ceased,  and  that 
such  which  are  esteemed  new,  will  have  but 
their  time :  however,  the  mercy  of  God  hath 
scattered  the  great  heap  of  diseases,  and  not 
loaded  any  one  country  with  all :  some  may 
be  new  in  one  country  which  have  been  old  in 
another:  new  discoveries  of  the  earth  discover 
new  diseases :  for  besides  the  common  swarm, 
there  are  endemial  and  local  infirmities  proper 
unto  certain  regions,  which  in  the  whole  earth 
make  no  small  number :  and  if  Asia,  Africa, 
and  America  should  bring  in  their  list,  Pan- 
doras box  would  swell,  and  there  must  be  a 
strange  Pathology. 

Most  men  expected  to  find  a  consumed  kell, 


172  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

empty  and  bladder-like  guts,  livid  and  marbled 
lungs,  and  a  withered  pericardium  in  this  ex- 
succous  corpse :  but  some  seemed  too  much  to 
wonder  that  two  lobes  of  his  lungs  adhered 
unto  his  side:  for  the  like  I  have  often  found 
in  bodies  of  no  suspected  consumptions  or  dif- 
ficulty of  respiration.  And  the  same  more  often 
happeneth  in  man  than  other  animals,  and  some 
think  in  women  than  in  men ;  but  the  most 
remarkable  I  have  met  with  was  in  a  man, 
after  a  cough  of  almost  fifty  years,  in  whom 
all  the  lobes  adhered  unto  the  Pleura,  and  each 
lobe  unto  another ;  who  having  also  been  much 
troubled  with  the  gout,  brake  the  rule  of  Car- 
dan, and  died  of  the  stone  in  the  bladder.* 
Aristotle  makes  a  query,  why  some  animals 
cough,  as  man ;  some  not,  as  oxen.  If  cough- 
ing be  taken  as  it  consisteth  of  a  natural  and 
voluntary  motion,  including  expectoration  and 
spitting  out,  it  may  be  as  proper  unto  man  as 
bleeding  at  the  nose ;  otherwise  we  find  that 
Vegetius  and  rural  writers  have  not  left  so 
many  medicines  in  vain  against  the  coughs  of 
cattle ;  and  men  who  perish  by  coughs  die  the 
death  of  sheep,  cats,  and  lions  :  and  though  birds 
have  no  midriff,  yet  we  meet  with  divers  reme- 

*  Cardan  in  his  Encomium  Podagra  reckoneth  this  among  the 
dona  Podagras,  that  they  are  delivered  thereby  from  Phthisis 
and  Calculus. 


LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND.  173 

dies  in  Arrianus  against  the  cough  of  hawks. 
And  though  it  might  he  thought  that  all  ani- 
mals who  have  lungs  do  cough,  yet  in  ceta- 
ceous fishes,  who  have  large  and  strong  lungs, 
the  same  is  not  observed,  nor  yet  in  oviparous 
quadrupeds :  and  in  the  greatest  thereof,  the 
crocodile,  although  we  read  much  of  their  tears, 
we  find  nothing  of  that  motion. 

From  the  thoughts  of  sleep,  when  the  soul 
was  conceived  nearest  unto  divinity,  the  an- 
cients erected  an  art  of  divination,  wherein 
while  they  too  widely  expatiated  in  loose  and 
inconsequent  conjectures,  Hippocrates  wisely  Deinsom- 
considered  dreams  as  they  presaged  alterations 
in  the  body,  and  so  offered  hints  toward  the 
preservation  of  health  and  prevention  of  dis- 
eases: and  therein  was  so  serious  as  to  advise 
alteration  of  diet,  exercise,  sweating,  bathing, 
and  vomiting ;  and  also  so  religious,  as  to  or- 
der prayers  and  supplications  unto  respective 
deities ;  in  good  dreams  unto  Sol,  Jupiter  coeles- 
tis,  Jupiter  opulentus,  Minerva,  Mercurius,  and 
Apollo:  in  bad,  unto  Tellus,  and  the  Heroes. 
And  therefore  I  could  not  but  take  notice  how 
his  female  friends  were  irrationally  curious  so 
strictly  to  examine  his  dreams,  and  in  this  low 
state  to  hope  for  the  phantasms  of  health.  He 
was  now  past  the  healthful  dreams  of  the  sun, 
moon,   and  stars,  in   their   clarity  and   proper 


174  LETTER   TO  A   FRIEND. 

courses.  'T  was  too  late  to  dream  of  flying,  of 
limpid  fountains,  smooth  waters,  white  vest- 
ments, and  fruitful  green  trees,  which  are  the 
visions  of  healthful  sleeps,  and  at  good  distance 
from  the  grave. 

And  they  were  also  too  deeply  dejected  that 
he  should  dream  of  his  dead  friends,  inconse- 
quently  divining,  that  he  would  not  be  long  from 
them;  for  strange  it  was  not  that  he  should 
sometimes  dream  of  the  dead,  whose  thoughts 
run  always  upon  death  ;  besides,  to  dream  of 
the  dead,  so  they  appear  not  in  dark  habits, 
and  take  nothing  away  from  us,  in  Hippocrates 
his  sense,  was  of  good  signification :  for  we  live 
by  the  dead,  and  everything  is  or  must  be  so 
before  it  becomes  our  nourishment.  And  Car- 
dan, who  dreamed  that  he  discoursed  with  his 
dead  Father  in  the  moon,  made  thereof  no 
mortal  interpretation:  and  even  to  dream  that 
we  are  dead,  was  no  condemnable  phantasm  in 
old  Oneirocriticism,  as  having  a  signification  of 
liberty,  vacuity  from  cares,  exemption  and  free- 
dom from  troubles  unknown  unto  the  dead. 

Some  dreams  I  confess  may  admit  of  easy 
and  feminine  exposition ;  he  who  dreamed  that 
he  could  not  see  his  right  shoulder,  might  easily 
fear  to  lose  the  sight  of  his  right  eye ;  he  that 
before  a  journey  dreamed  that  his  feet  were  cut 
off,  had  a  plain  warning  not  to  undertake  his 


LETTER    TO  A  FRIEND.  175 

intended  journey.  But  why  to  dream  of  let- 
tuce should  presage  some  ensuing  disease,  why 
to  eat  figs  should  signify  foolish  talk,  why  to 
eat  eggs  great  trouble,  and  to  dream  of  blind- 
ness should  be  so  highly  commended,  accord- 
ing to  the  oneirocritical  verses  of  Astrampsy- 
chus  and  Nicephorus,  I  shall  leave  unto  your 
divination. 

He  was  willing  to  quit  the  world  alone  and 
altogether,  leaving  no  earnest  behind  him  for 
corruption  or  after-grave,  having  small  content 
in  that  common  satisfaction  to  survive  or  live 
hi  another,  but  amply  satisfied  that  his  disease 
should  die  with  himself,  nor  revive  in  a  poster- 
ity to  puzzle  physic,  and  make  sad  mementos 
of  their  parent  hereditary.  Leprosy  awakes 
not  sometimes  before  forty,  the  gout  and  stone 
often  later ;  but  consumptive  and  tabid  roots 
sprout  more  early,  and  at  the  fairest  make 
seventeen  years  of  our  life  doubtful  before  that 
age.  They  that  enter  the  world  with  original 
diseases  as  well  as  sin,  have  not  only  common 
mortality,  but  sick  traductions,  to  destroy  them, 
make  commonly  short  courses,  and  live  not  at 
length  but  in  figures  :  so  that  a  sound  ccesarean 
nativity  may  outlast  a  natural  birth,  and  a 
knife  may  sometimes  make  way  for  a  more 
lasting  fruit  than  a  midwife ;  which  makes  so 
few  infants  now  able  to  endure  the  old  test  of 


176  LETTER   TO  A   FRIEND. 

the  river,*  and  many  to  have  feeble  children 
who  could  scarce  have  been  married  at  Sparta, 
and  those  provident  states  who  studied  strong 
and  healthful  generations  ;  which  happen  but 
contingently  in  mere  pecuniary  matches,  or 
marriages  made  by  the  candle,  wherein  notwith- 
standing there  is  little  redress  to  be  hoped  from 
an  Astrologer  or  a  Lawyer,  and  a  good  discern- 
ing Physician  were  like  to  prove  the  most  suc- 
cessful counsellor. 

Julius  Scaliger,  who  in  a  sleepless  fit  of  the 
gout  could  make  two  hundred  verses  in  a  night, 
would  have  but  five  plain  words  upon  his  tomb.f 
And  this  serious  person,  though  no  minor  wit, 
left  the  poetry  of  his  epitaph  unto  others,  either 
unwilling  to  commend  himself,  or  to  be  judged 
by  a  distich,  and  perhaps  considering  how  un- 
happy great  Poets  have  been  in  versifying  their 
own  epitaphs:  wherein  Petrarcha,  Dante,  and 
Ariosto  have  so  unhappily  failed,  that  if  their 
tombs  should  outlast  their  works,  posterity 
would  find  so  little  of  Apollo  on  them,  as  to 
mistake  them  for  Ciceronian  Poets. 

In  this  deliberate  and  creeping  progress  unto 
the  grave,  he  was  somewhat  too  young,  and  of 

*  "  Durum  ab  stirpe  genus,  natos  ad  flumina  primum 
Deferimus,  saevoque  gelu  duramus  et  undis." 

Virg.  JEn.  ix.  603. 

f    IVLII   C^SARIS   SCALIGERI   QVOD   FVIT. 


LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND.  177 

too  noble  a  mind,  to  fall  upon  that  stupid  symp- 
tom observable  in  divers  persons  near  their 
journey's  end,  and  which  may  be  reckoned 
among  the  mortal  symptoms  of  their  last  disease : 
that  is,  to  become  more  narrow-minded,  misera- 
ble, and  tenacious,  unready  to  part  with  any- 
thing, when  they  are  ready  to  part  with  all, 
and  afraid  to  want  when  they  have  no  time  to 
spend;  meanwhile  Physicians,  who  know  that 
many  are  mad  but  in  a  single  depraved  imagi- 
nation, and  one  prevalent  decipiency,  and  that 
beside  and  out  of  such  single  deliriums  a  man 
may  meet  with  sober  actions  and  good  sense  in 
Bedlam,  cannot  but  smile  to  see  the  heirs  and 
concerned  relations  gratulating  themselves  on 
the  sober  departure  of  their  friends ;  and  though 
they  behold  such  mad  covetous  passages,  con- 
tent to  think  they  die  in  good  understanding, 
and  in  their  sober  senses. 

Avarice,  which  is  not  only  infidelity  but  idol-  ^oloss- 
atry,  either  from  covetous  progeny  or  questu- 
ary  education,  had  no  root  in  his  breast,  who 
made  good  works  the  expression  of  his  faith, 
and  was  big  with  desires  unto  public  and  lasting 
charities  ;   and   surelv  where   good  wishes  and  Reh  Med- 

.  J  &  Pt.  ii.  c. 

charitable    intentions    exceed    ability,    theorical  xtti. 
beneficency  may  be  more  than  a  dream.     They 
build   not  castles   in   the  air  who  would  build 
churches  on  earth ;  and  though  they  leave  no 
12 


178  LETTER    TO  A   FRIEND. 

such  structures  here,  may  lay  good  foundations 
in  Heaven.*  In  brief,  his  life  and  death  were 
such,  that  I  could  not  blame  them  who  wished 
the  like,  and  almost,  to  have  been  himself ; 
almost,  I  say,  for  though  we  may  wish  the 
prosperous  appurtenances  of  others,  or  to  be 
another  in  his  happy  accidents,  yet  so  intrin- 
sical  is  every  man  unto  himself,  that  some 
doubt  may  be  made,  whether  any  would  ex- 
change his  being,  or  substantially  become  an- 
other man. 

He  had  wisely  seen  the  world  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  thereby  observed  under  what  vari- 
ety men  are  deluded  in  the  pursuit  of  that 
which  is  not  here  to  be  found.  And  although 
he  had  no  opinion  of  reputed  felicities  below, 
and  apprehended  men  widely  out  in  the  esti- 
mate of  such  happiness,  yet  his  sober  contempt 
of  the  world  wrought  no  Democratism  or  Cyni- 
cism, no  laughing  or  snarling  at  it,  as  well 
understanding  there  are  not  felicities  in  this 
world  to  satisfy  a  serious  mind ;  and  there- 
fore to  soften  the  stream  of  our  lives,  we  are 
fain  to  take  in  the  reputed  contentations  of  this 
world,  to  unite  with  the  crowd  in  their  beati- 
tudes, and  to  make  ourselves  happy  by  consor- 

*  So  Wordsworth  (Eccles.  Sonnet,  King's  Coll.  Chapel): 
"  They  dreamt  not  of  a  perishable  home 
Who  thus  could  build." 


LETTER  TO  A  FRIEND.  179 

tion,  opinion,  or  co-existimation :  for  strictly  to 
separate  from  received  and  customary  felicities, 
and  to  confine  unto  the  rigour  of  realities,  were 
to  contract  the  consolation  of  our  beings  unto 
too  uncomfortable  circumscriptions. 

Not  to  fear  death,  nor  desire  it,  was  short  of 
his   resolution :   to   be   dissolved,  and  be  with  2  Cor-  v- L 

.     Phil.  i.  23. 

Christ,  was  his  dying  ditty.  He  conceived  his 
thread  too  long,  in  no  long  course  of  years, 
and  when  he  had  scarce  outlived  the  second  life 
of  Lazarus ;  *  esteeming  it  enough  to  approach 
the  years  of  his  Saviour,  who  so  ordered  his 
own  human  state,  as  not  to  be  old  upon  earth. 
But  to  be  content  with  death  may  be  better 
than  to  desire  it:  a  miserable  life  may  make 
us  wish  for  death,  but  a  virtuous  one  to  rest  in 
it;  which  is  the  advantage  of  those  resolved 
Christians,  who  looking  on  death  not  only  as 
the  sting,  but  the  period  and  end  of  sin,  the 
horizon  and  isthmus  between  this  life  and  a 
better,  and  the  death  of  this  world  but  as  a 
nativity  of  another,  do  contentedly  submit  unto 
the  common  necessity,  and  envy  not  Enoch  or  Gen.  v.  24. 

1?r  J  J  Heb.xi.5. 

MiaS.  2  Kings  ii. 

Not  to  be  -content  with  life  is  the  unsatisfac- 
tory state  of  those  who  destroy  themselves  ;  who 

*  S.  Epiphanius  mentions  a  tradition  that  Lazarus  had  died 
at  the  age  of  thirty  when  he  was  raised  from  the  dead  by  our 
Lord,  and  that  he  lived  thirty  years  afterwards.  Epiphan.  Haeres. 
lxvi.  c.  39. 


180  LETTER   TO  A   FRIEND. 

being  afraid  to  live,  run  blindly  upon  their  own 
death,  which  no  man  fears  by  experience ;  and 
the  Stoics  had  a  notable  doctrine  to  take  away 
the  fear  thereof,  that  is,  in  such  extremities,  to 
desire  that  which  is  not  to  be  avoided,  and  wish 
what  might  be  feared,  and  so  made  evils  volun- 
tary, and  to  suit  with  their  own  desires,  which 
Rei.  Med.  took  off  the  terror  of  them.  But  the  ancient 
martyrs  were  not  encouraged  by  such  fallacies ; 
who,  though  they  feared  not  death,  were  afraid 
to  be  their  own  executioners,  and  therefore 
thought  it  more  wisdom  to  crucify  their  lusts 
than  their  bodies,  to  circumcise  than  stab  their 
hearts,  and  to  mortify  than  kill  themselves. 

His  willingness  to  leave  this  world  about  that 
age  when  most  men  think  they  may  best  enjoy 
it,  though  paradoxical  unto  worldly  ears,  was 
not  strange  unto  mine,  who  have  so  often  ob- 
served that  many,  though  old,  oft  stick  fast  unto 
the  world,  and  seem  to  be  drawn  like  Cacus 
his  oxen,  backward,  with  great  struggling  and 
reluctancy,  unto  the  grave.*  The  long  habit 
of  living  makes  meer  men  more  hardly  to  part 
with  life,  and  all  to  be  nothing  but  what  is  to 
come.  To  live  at  the  rate  of  the  old  world, 
when  some  could  scarce  remember  themselves 

*  Cacus  was  a  robber,  who  having  stolen  Hercules  his  oxen  on 
Mount  Aventine,  dragged  them  backwards  into  his  cave,  that 
their  tracks  might  not  be  discovered.  Livy,  i.  7.  Virg.  Mn. 
viii.  209. 


LETTER   TO  A   FRIEND.  181 

young,  may  afford  no  better  digested  death  than 
a  more  moderate  period.  Many  would  have 
thought  it  an  happiness  to  have  had  their  lot 
of  life  in  some  notable  conjunctures  of  ages 
past :  but  the  uncertainty  of  future  times  hath 
tempted  few  to  make  a  part  in  ages  to  come. 
And  surely,  he  that  hath  taken  the  true  altitude 
of  things,  and  rightly  calculated  the  degenerate 
state  of  this  age,  is  not  like  to  envy  those  that 
shall  live  in  the  next,  much  less  three  or  four 
hundred  years  hence,  when  no  man  can  com- 
fortably imagine  what  face  this  world  will  car- 
ry :  and  therefore,  since  every  age  makes  a  step 
unto  the  end  of  all  things  and  the  Scripture 
affords  so  hard  a  character  of  the  last  times, 
quiet  minds  will  be  content  with  their  genera- 
tions, and  rather  bless  ages  past,  than  be  ambi- 
tious of  those  to  come. 

Though  Age  had  set  no  seal  upon  his  face, 
yet  a  dim  eye  might  clearly  discover  fifty  in 
his  actions ;  and  therefore,  since  wisdom  is  the 
gray  hair,  and  an  unspotted  life  old  age,  al- 
though his  years  came  short,  he  might  have 
been  said  to  have  held  up  with  longer  livers, 
and  to  have   been   Solomon's  old  ■  man.     And  wisd>  T* 

7-14. 

surely  if  we  deduct  all  those  days  of  our  life 
which  we  might  wish  unlived,  and  which  abate 
the  comfort  of  those  we  now  live,  if  we  reckon 
up  only  those  days  which  God  hath  accepted 


iv.  13 


182  LETTER  TO  A   FRIEND. 

of  our  lives,  a  life  of  good  years  will  hardly 
be  a  span  long,  the  son  in  this  sense  may  out- 
live the  father,  and  none  be  climacterically  old. 
He  that  early  arriveth  unto  the  parts  and  pru- 
dence of  age,  is  happily  old  without  the  uncom- 
fortable attendants  of  it:  and  'tis  superfluous 
to  live  unto  gray  hairs,  when  in  a  precocious 
temper  we  anticipate  the  virtues  of  them.  In 
brief,  he  cannot  be  accounted  young  who  out- 
liveth  the  old  man.  He  that  hath  early  ar- 
Ephes.  rived  unto  the  measure  of  a  perfect  stature  in 
Christ,  hath  already  fulfilled  the  prime  and 
longest  intention  of  his  being :  and  one  day 
lived  after  the  perfect  rule  of  piety  is  to  be 
preferred  before  sinning  immortality.  Although 
he  attained  not  unto  the  years  of  his  prede- 
cessors, yet  he  wanted  not  those  preserving 
virtues  which  confirm  the  thread  of  weaker  con- 
stitutions. Cautelous  Chastity  and  crafty  Sobri- 
ety were  far  from  him ;  those  jewels  were  para- 
gon, without  flaw,  hair,  ice,  or  cloud  in  him: 
which  affords  me  a  hint  to  proceed 
in  these  good  wishes,  and 
few  mementos  unto 
you. 


True 


Christian   Morals. 


To  the  Right  Honourable 

DAVID,    EARL   OF    BUCHAN, 

Viscount  Auchterhouse,  Lord  Cardross  and  Glendovachie,  one  of 
the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Police,  and  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
the  Counties  of  Stirling  and  Clackmannan  in  North  Britain. 

My  Lord, — 

THE  honour  you  have  done  our  family  obligeth 
us  to  make  all  just  acknowledgments  of  it ; 
and  there  is  no  form  of  acknowledgment  in  our 
power,  more  worthy  of  your  Lordship's  acceptance, 
than  this  dedication  of  the  last  Work  of  our  honoured 
and  learned  Father.  Encouraged  hereunto  by  the 
knowledge  we  have  of  your  Lordship's  judicious  rel- 
ish of  universal  learning  and  sublime  virtue,  we  beg 
the  favour  of  your  acceptance  of  it,  which  will  very 
much  oblige  our  family  in  general,  and  her  in  partic- 
ular, who  is, 

My  Lord, 
Your  Lordship's  most  humble  servant, 

Elizabeth  Littleton. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

fltJl^  F  any  one,  after  he  has  read  Religio 

\    Medici,  and  the  ensuing  Discourse, 

i    can  make   doubt  whether  the  same 
i 

person  was  the  Author  of  them 
both,  he  may  be  assured  by  the  testimony  of 
Mrs.  Littleton,  Sir  Thomas  Browne's  daughter, 
who  lived  with  her  father  when  it  was  com- 
posed by  him,  and  who,  at  the  time,  read  it 
written  by  his  own  hand ;  and  also  by  the  tes- 
timony of  others  (of  whom  I  am  one)  who 
read  the  manuscript  of  the  Author  immedi- 
ately after  his  death,  and  who  have  since  read 
the  same,  from  which  it  hath  been  faithfully 
and  exactly  transcribed  for  the  press.  The 
reason  why  it  was  not  printed  sooner  is,  be- 
cause it  was  unhappily  lost,  by  being  mislaid 
among    other    manuscripts,    for    which   search 


188    PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

was  lately  made  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  of  which  his  Grace 
by  letter  informed  Mrs.  Littleton,  when  he 
sent  the  manuscript  to  her.  There  is  nothing 
printed  in  the  Discourse,  or  in  the  short  notes, 
but  what  is  found  in  the  original  manuscript 
of  the  Author,  except  only  where  an  oversight 
had  made  the  addition  or  transposition  of  some 
words  necessary. 

JOHN  JEFFERY, 

ARCHDEACON    OF    NORWICH. 


HIE  '      A 

VERSITY 


Christian   Morals- 


PART    I. 


READ  softly  and  circumspectly  in 
this  funambulatory  track  and  nar- 
row path  of  goodness :  pursue  virtue 
virtuously :  leaven  not  good  actions, 
nor  render  virtues  disputable.  Stain  not  fair 
acts  with  foul  intentions :  maim  not  uprightness 
by  halting  concomitances,  nor  circumstantially 
deprave  substantial  goodness. 

Consider  whereabout  thou  art  in  Cebes  his 
table,  or  that  old  philosophical  pinax  of  the  life 
of  man :  *  whether  thou  art  yet  in  the  road  of 
uncertainties ;  whether  thou  hast  yet  entered 
the  narrow  gate,  got  up  the  hill  and  asperous 
way,  which  leadeth  unto  the  house  of  sanity : 
or  taken  that  purifying  potion  from  the  hand 


*  The  Pinax,  or  tablet,  of  Cebes,  a  Theban  philosopher,  in 
which  the  life  of  man  is  represented  in  a  beautiful  allegory. 


Milton 
Par.  Lost 


190  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

of  sincere  erudition,  which  may  send  thee  clear 
and  pure  away  unto  a  virtuous  and  happy  life. 
In  this  virtuous  voyage  of  thy  life  hull  not 
xi  840.  '  about  like  the  ark,  without  the  use  of  rudder, 
mast,  or  sail,  and  bound  for  no  port.  Let  not 
disappointment  cause  despondency,  nor  difficulty 
despair.  Think  not  that  you  are  sailing  from 
Lima  to  Manilla,  when  you  may  fasten  up  the 
rudder,  and  sleep  before  the  wind ;  but  expect 
rough  seas,  flaws,  and  contrary  blasts  ;  and  it  is 
well  if  by  many  cross  tacks  and  veerings  you 
arrive  at  the  port ;  for  we  sleep  in  lions'  skins 
in  our  progress  unto  virtue,  and  we  slide  not, 
but  climb  unto  it. 

Sit  not  down  in  the  popular  forms  and  com- 
mon level  of  virtues.     Offer   not  only  peace- 
$  jcum'vo-     offerings,  but  holocausts  unto  God ;  where  all 
T!i!T^*u  is  due  make  no  reserve,  and  cut  not  a  cumin- 

Anst.  .htn.  ' 

iv.  i.  seed  with  the  Almighty  :  to  serve  him  singly  to 

serve  ourselves  were  too  partial  a  piece  of  piety, 
not  like  to  place  us  in  the  illustrious  mansions 
of  glory. 

II.  Rest  not  in  an  ovation,  but  a  triumph 
over  thy  passions.  Let  anger  walk  hanging 
down  the  head ;  let  malice  go  manacled,  and 
envy  fettered,  after  thee.  Behold  within  thee 
the  long  train  of  thy  trophies,  not  without  thee. 
Make  the  quarrelling  Lapithytes  sleep,  and  Cen- 
taurs within  He  quiet.     Chain  up   the  unruly 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  191 

legion  of  thy  breast.     Lead  thine  own  captivity 
captive,  and  be  Caesar  within  thyself. 

III.  He  that  is  chaste  and  continent  not  to 
impair  his  strength,  or  honest  for  fear  of  con- 
tagion, will  hardly  be  heroically  virtuous.  Ad- 
journ not  this  virtue  until  that  temper,  when 
Cato  could  lend  out  his  wife,  and  impotent  sa- 
tyrs write  satires  upon  lust. 

IV.  Show  thy  art  in  honesty,  and  lose  not 
thy  virtue  by  the  bad  managery  of  it.  Be 
temperate  and  sober :  not  to  preserve  your  body 
in  an  ability  for  w^anton  ends ;  not  to  avoid  the 
infamy  of  common  transgressors  that  way,  and 
thereby  to  hope  to  expiate  or  palliate  obscure 
and  closer  vices ;  not  to  spare  your  purse,  nor 
simply  to  enjoy  health ;  but  in  one  word,  that 
thereby  you  may  truly  serve  God,  which  every 
sickness  will  tell  you  you  cannot  well  do  with- 
out health.  The  sick  man's  sacrifice  is  but 
a  lame  oblation.  Pious  treasures  laid  up  in 
healthful  days,  plead  for  sick  non-performances, 
without  which  we  must  needs  look  back  with 
anxiety  upon  the  lost  opportunities  of  health, 
and  may  have  cause  rather  to  envy  than  pity 
the  ends  of  penitent  public  sufferers,  who  go 
with  healthful  prayers  unto  the  last  scene  of 
their  lives,  and  in  the  integrity  of  their  faculties 
return  their  spirit  unto  God  that  gave  it. 

V.  Be  charitable   before  wealth   make  thee 


192  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

st.  Mark     covetous,  and  lose  not  the  glory  of  the  mite. 

xii.  41-44.  . 

If  riches  increase,  let  thy  mind  hold  pace  with 

them;  and  think  it  not  enough  to  be  liberal, 

st.  Matt.  x.  but  munificent.     Though  a  cup  of  cold  water 

St.  Mark     from  some  hand  may  not  be  without  its  reward, 

ix.41.        yej.   stick   not   thou   for  wine   and   oil  for  the 

St.  Luke  x.  J 

34.  wounds  of  the  distressed ;  and  treat  the  poor, 

12  i3hnV1  as  our  Saviour  did  the  multitude,  to  the  reliques 
of  some  baskets.  Diffuse  thy  beneficence  early, 
and  while  thy  treasures  call  thee  master :  there 
may  be  an  Atropos  of  thy  fortunes  before  that 
of  thy  life,  and  thy  wealth  cut  off  before  that 
hour  when  all  men  shall  be  poor ;  for  the  justice 
of  death  looks  equally  upon  the  dead,  and  Cha- 
ron expects  no  more  from  Alexander  than  from 
Irus.* 

Ecci.  xi.  2.  VI.  Give  not  only  unto  seven,  but  also  unto 
eight,  that  is,  unto  more  than  many.     Though 

st.  Matt.  t.  to  give  unto  every  one  that  asketh  may  seem 
severe  advice,  yet  give  thou  also  before  asking ; 
that  is,  where  want  is  silently  clamorous,  and 
men's  necessities,  not  their  tongues,  do  loudly 
call  for  thy  mercies.  For  though  sometimes 
necessitousness  be  dumb,  or  misery  speak  not 
out ;  yet  true  charity  is  sagacious,  and  will  find 
out   hints   for   beneficence.      Acquaint   thyself 

*  Irus,  a  beggar  (Odyss.  xviii.  233)  whose  poverty  became 
proverbial: 

"  Irus  et  est  subiio,  qui  modo  Croesus  erat."  —  Ovid. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  193 

with  the  physiognomy  of  want,  and  let  the  dead 
colours  and  first  lines  of  necessity  suffice  to  tell 
thee  there  is  an  object  for  thy  bounty.     Spare 
not  where   thou  canst  not  easily  be  prodigal, 
and  fear  not  to  be  undone  by  mercy ;  for  since  Prov- ***• 
he  who  hath  pity  on  the  poor  lendeth  unto  the 
Almighty  rewarder,  who  observes  no  ides  *  but 
every  day  for  his   payments,  charity  becomes 
pious  usury,  Christian  liberality  the  most  thriv- 
ing industry,  and  what  we  adventure  in  a  cock- 
boat may  return  in  a  carrack  unto  us.     He  who 
thus  casts  his  bread  upon  the  water  shall  surely  Ecci.  xi.  1. 
find  it  again  ;  for  though  it  falleth  to  the  bottom, 
it  sinks  but  like  the  axe  of  the  prophet,  to  rise  2  Kings  vi. 
again  unto  him. 

VII.  If  avarice  be  thy  vice,  yet  make  it  not 
thy  punishment.  Miserable  men  commiserate 
not  themselves ;  bowelless  unto  others,  and  mer- 
ciless unto  their  own  bowels.  Let  the  fruition 
of  things  bless  the  possession  of  them,  and  think 
it  more  satisfaction  to  live  richly  than  die  rich. 
For  since  thy  good  works,  not  thy  goods,  will 
follow  thee;  since  wealth  is  an  appurtenance 
of  life,  and  no  dead  man  is  rich ;  to  famish  in 
plenty,  and  live  poorly  to  die  rich,  were  a  mul- 
tiplying improvement  in  madness,  and  use  upon 
use  in  folly. 

*  Ides,  the  middle  day  of  the  Roman  month,  on  which  money 
put  out  to  interest  was  commonly  repaid. 
13 


Rev.  xiy. 
13. 


194  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

VIII.  Trust  not  to  the  omnipotency  of  gold, 

Jobxxxi.    and  say  not  unto  it,  Thou  art  my  confidence. 
24-27.        Tr.         J       ,       ,        ,  .  J  .  _ 

Kiss  not  thy  hand  to  that  terrestrial  sun,  nor 

Ex.  xxi.  6.  bore  thy  ear  unto  its  servitude.  A  slave  unto 
^2/  mammon  makes  no  servant  unto  God.  Covet- 
st.Luke  ousness  cracks  the  sinews  of  faith,  numbs  the 
apprehension  of  anything  above  sense  ;  and  only 
affected  with  the  certainty  of  things  present, 
makes  a  peradventure  of  things  to  come ;  lives 
but  unto  one  world,  nor  hopes  but  fears  anoth- 
er; makes  their  own  death  sweet  unto  others, 
bitter  unto  themselves;  brings  formal  sadness, 
scenical  mourning,  and  no  wet  eyes  at  the 
grave. 

IX.  Persons  lightly  dipped,  not  grained  in 
generous  honesty,  are  but  pale  in  goodness,  and 
faint-hued  in  integrity.  But  be  thou  what  thou 
virtuously  art,  and  let  not  the  ocean  wash  away 
thy  tincture.  Stand  magnetically  upon  that 
axis,  when  prudent  simplicity  hath  fixed  there  ; 
and  let  no  attraction  invert  the  poles  of  thy 
honesty.  That  vice  may  be  uneasy  and  even 
monstrous  unto  thee,  let  repeated  good  acts  and 
long  confirmed  habits  make  virtue  almost  nat- 
ural, or  a  second  nature  in  thee.  Since  virtu- 
ous superstructions  have  commonly  generous 
foundations,  dive  into  thy  inclinations,  and  early 
discover  what  nature  bids  thee  to  be,  or  tells 
thee  thou  may  est  be.     They  who  thus  timely 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  195 

descend  into  themselves,  and  cultivate  the  good 
seeds  which  nature  hath  set  in  them,  prove  not 
shrubs  but  cedars  in  their  generation.  And  to 
be  in  the  form  of  the  best  of  the  bad,  or  the 
worst  of  the  good,  will  be  no  satisfaction  unto 
them. 

X.  Make  not  the  consequence  of  virtue  the 

ends  thereof.     Be  not  beneficent  for  a  name  or  st* Matt* 

vL  i,  2. 

cymbal  of  applause ;  nor  exact  and  just  in  com- 
merce for  the  advantages  of  trust  and  credit, 
which  attend  the  reputation  of  true  and  punc- 
tual dealing :  for  these  rewards,  though  unsought 
for,  plain  virtue  will  bring  with  her.  To  have 
other  by-ends  in  good  actions  sours  laudable 
performances,  which  must  have  deeper  roots, 
motives,  and  instigations,  to  give  them  the  stamp 
of  virtues. 

XI.  Let  not  the  law  of  thy  country  be  the 
non  ultra  of  thy  honesty ;  nor  think  that  always 
good  enough  which  the  law  will  make  good. 
Narrow  not  the  law  of  charity,  equity,  mercy. 
Join  gospel  righteousness  with  legal  right.  Be 
not  a  mere  Gamaliel  in  the  faith,  but  let  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  be  thy  Targum  unto  the  st.  Matt.  v. 
law  or  omai.  Ex.  xx. 

XII.  Live   by  old  ethics  and   the    classical 

rules   of  honesty.     Put  no  new  names  or  no-  cf.Thucyd. 
tions  upon  authentic  virtues  and  vices.     Think 
not  that  morality  is  ambulatory;  that  vices  in 


196  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

one  age  are  not  vices  in  another ;  or  that  vir- 
tues, which  are  under  the  everlasting  seal  of 
right  reason,  may  be  stamped  by  opinion.  And 
therefore,  though  vicious  times  invert  the  opin- 
ions of  things,  and  set  up  new  ethics  against 
virtue,  yet  hold  thou  unto  old  morality;  and 

Ex.xxiu.2.  rather  than  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil,  stand 
like  Pompey's  pillar  conspicuous  by  thyself,  and 
single  in  integrity.  And  since  the  worst  of 
times  afford  imitable  examples  of  virtue ;  since 
no  deluge  of  vice  is  like  to  be  so  general  but 
more  than  eight  will  escape;  eye  well  those 
heroes  who  have  held  their  heads  above  water, 
who  have  touched  pitch  and  not  been  denied, 
and  in  the  common  contagion  have  remained 
uncorrupted. 

XIII.  Let  age,  not  envy,  draw  wrinkles  on 
thy  cheeks;  be  content  to  be  envied,  but  envy 
not.  Emulation  may  be  plausible  and  indigna- 
tion allowable,  but  admit  no  treaty  with  that 
passion  which  no  circumstance  can  make  good. 
A  displacency  at  the  good  of  others  because 
they  enjoy  it,  though  not  unworthy  of  it,  is  an 
absurd  depravity,  sticking  fast  unto  corrupted 
nature,  and  often  too  hard  for  humility  and 
charity,  the  great  suppressors  of  envy.  This 
surely  is  a  lion  not  to  be  strangled  but  by 
Hercules   himself,  or  the  highest  stress  of  our 

Phii.iii.2i.  minds,  and  an  atom  of  that  power  which  sub- 
dueth  all  things  unto  itself. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  197 

XIV.  Owe  not  thy  humility  unto  humilia- 
tion from  adversity,  but  look  humbly  down  in 
that  state  when  others  look  upwards  upon  thee. 
Think  not  thy  own  shadow  longer  than  that 
of  others,  nor  delight  to  take  the  altitude  of 
thyself.  Be  patient  in  the  age  of  pride,  when 
men  live  by  short  intervals  of  reason  under  the 
dominion  of  humour  and  passion,  when  it  is  in 

the  power  of  every  one  to  transform  thee  out  ^or.  ep.  i. 
of  thyself,  and  run  thee  into  the  short  madness. 
If  you  cannot  imitate  Job,  yet  come  not  short  of 
Socrates,  and  those  patient  Pagans  who  tired  the  Juv- Sat 

n     -.      •  •  1   M         i  ,    ziii.185. 

tongues  ot  their  enemies,  while  they  perceived 
they  spit  their  malice  at  brazen  walls  and  statues. 

XV.  Let  not  the  sun  in  Capricorn*  go  down  Eph.iv.26. 
upon  thy  wrath,  but  write  thy  wrongs  in  ashes. 
Draw  the  curtain  of  night  upon  injuries,  shut 

them  up  in  the  tower  of  oblivion,!  and  let  them 
be  as  though  they  had  not  been.  To  forgive 
our  enemies,  yet  hope  that  God  will  punish 
them,  is  not  to  forgive  enough.  To  forgive 
them  ourselves,  and  not  to  pray  God  to  forgive 
them,  is  a  partial  piece  of  charity.  Forgive 
thine  enemies  totally,  and  without  any  reserve, 
that  however,  God  will  revenge  thee. 

*  Even  when  the  days  are  shortest. 

t  Alluding  unto  the  Tower  of  Oblivion  mentioned  by  Proco- 
pius,  as  a  place  of  imprisonment  among  the  Persians:  whoever 
was  put  therein  was,  as  it  were,  buried  alive,  and  it  was  death 
for  any  but  to  name  him. 


198  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

XVI.  While  thou  so  hotly  disclaimest  the 
devil,  be  not  guilty  of  diabolism.  Fall  not 
into  one  name  *  with  that  unclean  spirit,  nor 
act  his  nature  whom  thou  so  much  abhorrest ; 
that  is,  to  accuse,  calumniate,  backbite,  whisper, 
detract,  or  sinistrously  interpret  others.  De- 
generous  depravities,  and  narrow-minded  vices ! 
not  only  below  St.  Paul's  noble  Christian,  but 
Aristotle's  f  true  gentleman.  Trust  not  with 
some  that  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  is  apocry- 
phal, and  so  read  with  less  fear  that  stabbing 

st.  James,  truth,  that  in  company  with  this  vice  thy  re- 
Ex.  xxxii.    ligion  is  in  vain.     Moses  broke  the  tables  with- 
out  breaking    of  the   law ;  but  where   charity 
is  broke,  the  law  itself  is  shattered,  which  can- 
Rom,  xiii.    not  oe  whole  without  Love,  which  is  the  fulfil- 
ling of  it.     Look  humbly  upon  thy  virtues  ;  and 
though  thou  art  rich  in  some,  yet  think  thyself 
poor  and  naked  without  that  crowning  grace, 
1  Cor.  xiii.  which  thinketh  no  evil,  which  envieth  not,  which 
beareth,  hopeth,  believeth,  endureth  all  things. 
With  these  sure  graces,  while  busy  tongues  are 
crying   out   for   a   drop   of  cold   water,  mutes 
Rev.iT.8.    may  be  in  happiness,  and  sing  the  Trisagion  in 
heaven. 

XVII.  However  thy  understanding  may  wa- 
ver in  the  theories  of  true  and  false,  yet  fasten 

*   One  name,  6  Sia/3oXos,  the  calumniator. 

f  Compare  Arist.  Ethics,  iv.  7,  and  Romans  xiii. 


St.  Luke 
xvi.  24. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  199 

the  rudder  of  thy  will,  steer  straight  unto  good, 
and  fall  not  foul  on  evil.  Imagination  is  apt 
to  rove,  and  conjecture  to  keep  no  bounds. 
Some  have  run  out  so  far,  as  to  fancy  the  stars 
might  be  but  the  light  of  the  crystalline  heaven 
shot  through  perforations  on  the  bodies  of  the 
orbs.  Others  more  ingeniously  doubt  whether 
there  hath  not  been  a  vast  tract  of  land  in  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  which'  earthquakes  and  violent 
causes  have  long  ago  devoured.  Speculative 
misapprehensions  may  be  innocuous,  but  immo- 
rality pernicious ;  theorical  mistakes  and  physi- 
cal deviations  may  condemn  our  judgments,  not 
lead  us  into  judgment.  But  perversity  of  will, 
immoral  and  sinful  enormities,  walk  with  Adras- 
te  and  Nemesis  at  their  backs,  pursue  us  unto 
judgment,  and  leave  us  viciously  miserable. 

XVIII.  Bid  early  defiance  unto  those  vices 
which  are  of  thine  inward  family,  and  having 
a  root  in  thy  temper  plead  a  right  and  propri- 
ety in  thee.  Raise  timely  batteries  against  those 
strong-holds  built  upon  the  rock  of  nature,  and 
make  this  a  great  part  of  the  militia  of  thy  life. 
Delude  not  thyself  into  iniquities  from  partici- 
pation or  community,  which  abate  the  sense 
but  not  the  obliquity  of  them.  To  conceive 
sins  less,  or  less  of  sins,  because  others  also 
transgress,  were  morally  to  commit  that  natu- 
ral fallacy  of  man,  to  take  comfort  from  society, 


200  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

and  think  adversities  less  because  others  also 
suffer  them.  The  politic  nature  of  vice  must 
be  opposed  by  policy;  and,  therefore,  wiser 
honesties  project  and  plot  against  it :  wherein, 
notwithstanding,  we  are  not  to  rest  in  generals, 
or  the  trite  stratagems  of  art.  That  may  suc- 
ceed with  one,  which  may  prove  successless 
with  another:  there  is  no  community  or  com- 
mon weal  of  virtue :  every  man  must  study  his 
own  economy,  and  adapt  such  rules  unto  the 
figure  of  himself. 

XIX.  Be  substantially  great  in  thyself,  and 
more  than  thou  appearest  unto  others ;  and  let 
the  world  be  deceived  in  thee,  as  they  are  in 
the  lights  of  heaven.  Hang  early  plummets 
upon  the  heels  of  pride,  and  let  ambition  have 
but  an  epicycle  and  narrow  circuit  in  thee. 
Measure  not  thyself  by  thy  morning  shadow, 
but  by  the  extent  of  thy  grave ;  and  reckon 
thyself  above  the  earth,  by  the  line  thou  must 
be  contented  with  under  it.  Spread  not  into 
boundless  expansions  either  of  designs  or  desires. 
Think  not  that  mankind  liveth  but  for  a  few ; 
and  that  the  rest  are  born  but  to  serve  those 
ambitions  which  make  but  flies  of  men  and 
wildernesses  of  whole  nations.  Swell  not  into 
vehement  actions  which  embroil  and  confound 
the  earth ;  but  be  one  of  those  violent  ones 
st.  Matt,  wnicn  force  tne  kingdom  of  heaven.     If  thou 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  201 

must  needs  rule,  be  Zeno's  king,*  and  enjoy 
that  empire  which  every  man  gives  himself. 
He  who  is  thus  his  own  monarch  contentedly 
sways  the  sceptre  of  himself,  not  envying  the 
glory  of  crowned  heads  and  elohim  of  the  earth. 
Could  the  world  unite  in  the  practice  of  that 
despised  train  of  virtues,  which  the  divine  eth- 
ics of  our  Saviour  hath  so  inculcated  upon  us, 
the  furious  face  of  things  must  disappear ;  Eden 
would  be  yet  to  be  found,  and  the  angels  might 
look  down,  not  with  pity,  but  joy  upon  us. 

XX.  Though  the  quickness  of  thine  ear  were 
able  to  reach  the  noise  of  the  moon,  which  some 
think  it  maketh  in  its  rapid  revolution ;  though 
the  number  of  thy  ears  should  equal  Argus  his 
eyes:  yet  stop  them  all  with  the  wise  man's 
wax,f  and  be  deaf  unto  the  suggestions  of  tale- 
bearers, calumniators,  pick-thank  or  malevolent 
delators,  who,  while  quiet  men  sleep,  sowing  st.  Matt. 
the  tares  of  discord  and  division,  distract  the 
tranquillity  of  charity  and  all  friendly  society. 

*  The  Stoics  illustrated  their  doctrines  by  describing  an  ideal 
personage  whom  they  called  "The  wise  man";  and  he  (they 
said)  "  was  the  only  King,  the  only  Dictator,  the  only  Rich  Man." 
Cic.  de  Finibus,  iii.  22.     Hor.  Sat.  i.  iii. 

"  The  way  to  subject  all  things  to  thy  selfe,  is  to  subject  thy- 
selfe  to<  reason :  thou  shalt  govern  many,  if  reason  govern  thee : 
wouldst  thou  be  crowned  the  monarch  of  a  little  world  ?  com- 
mand thy  selfe."  —  Quarles's  Enchir.,  ii.  19. 

t  Wise  man's  wax.  Ulysses  adopted  this  plan  to  escape  the 
enchantment  of  the  Sirens.     Odyss.  M.  173. 


202  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

st.  James  These  are  the  tongues  that  set  the  world  on 
2  Tim.  ii.  fire,  cankers  of  reputation,  and,  like  that  of 
Jonah  iv.  J°nas  his  gour(l,  wither  a  good  name  in  a  night. 
6, 7.  Evil  spirits  may  sit  still,  while  these  spirits  walk 
about  and  perform  the  business  of  hell.  To 
sj>eak  more  strictly,  our  corrupted  hearts  are 
the  factories  of  the  devil,  which  may  be  at 
work  without  his  presence ;  for  when  that  cir- 
cumventing spirit  hath  drawn  malice,  envy,  and 
all  unrighteousness  unto  well-rooted  habits  in 
his  disciples,  iniquity  then  goes  on  upon  its  own 
legs ;  and  if  the  gate  of  hell  were  shut  up  for  a 
time,  vice  would  still  be  fertile  and  produce  the 
fruits  of  hell.  Thus,  when  God  forsakes  us, 
Satan  also  leaves  us :  for  such  offenders  he  looks 
upon  as  sure  and  sealed  up,  and  his  temptations 
then  needless  unto  them. 

XXI.  Annihilate  not  the  mercies  of  God 
by  the  oblivion  of  ingratitude :  for  oblivion  is 
a  kind  of  annihilation ;  and  for  things  to  be  as 
though  they  had  not  been,  is  like  unto  never 
being.  Make  not  thy  head  a  grave,  but  a  re- 
pository of  God's  mercies.  Though  thou  hadst 
the  memory  of  Seneca,  or  Simonides,  and  con- 
science, the  punctual  memorist  within  us,  yet 
trust  not  to  thy  remembrance  in  things  which 
need  phylacteries.  Register  not  only  strange, 
but  merciful  occurrences.  Let  ephemerides, 
not  olympiads,  give  thee  account  of  His  mer- 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  203 

cies ;  *  let  thy  diaries  stand  thick  with  dutiful 
mementos  and  asterisks  of  acknowledgment. 
And  to  be  complete  and  forget  nothing,  date 
not  his  mercy  from  thy  nativity;  look  beyond 
the  world,  and  before  the  sera  of  Adam. 

XXII.  Paint  not  the  sepulchre  of  thyself, 
and  strive  not  to  beautify  thy  corruption.  Be 
not  an  advocate  for  thy  vices,  nor  call  for  many 
hour-glasses  to  justify  thy  imperfections. f  Think 
not  that  always  good  which  thou  thinkest  thou 
canst  always  make  good,  nor  that  concealed 
which  the  sun  doth  not  behold ;  that  which  the  st.  Luke 
sun  doth  not  now  see  will  be  visible  when  the  ^ 
sun  is  out,  and  the  stars  are  fallen  from  heaven. 
Meanwhile  there  is  no  darkness  unto  conscience,  icor.iv. 
which  can  see  without  light,  and  in  the  deepest 
obscurity  give  a  clear  draught  of  things,  which 
the  cloud  of  dissimulation  hath  concealed  from 
all  eyes.  There  is  a  natural  standing  court 
within  us,  examining,  acquitting,  and  condemn- 
ing at  the  tribunal  of  ourselves ;  wherein  iniqui- 
ties have  their  natural  thetas  J  and  no  nocent 
is  absolved  by  the  verdict  of  himself.  §     And 

*  Let  ephemerides,  &c,  that  is,  Take  note  of  God's  mercies  day 
by  day,  not  merely  every  four  years. 

f  In  the  Athenian  Courts  the  time  allowed  to  each  pleader 
was  measured  by  a  kind  of  hour-glass,  called  clepshydra. 

\  Theta,  0,  was  the  symbol  used  in  condemnation  to  capital 
punishment,  being  the  initial  letter  of  Qdvaros. 

§  "  Sejudice,  nemo  nocens  absolvitor. ,"  — Juv.  Sat.  xiii.  2. 


204  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

therefore,  although  our  transgressions  shall  be 
tried  at  the  last  bar,  the  process  need  not  be 
long:  for  the  Judge  of  all  knoweth  all,  and 
every  man  will  nakedly  know  himself;  and 
when  so  few  are  like  to  plead  not  guilty^  the 
assize  must  soon  have  an  end. 

XXIII.  Comply  with  some  humours,  bear 
with  others,  but  serve  none.  Civil  compla- 
cency consists  with  decent  honesty.  Flattery 
is  a  juggler,  and  no  kin  unto  sincerity.  But 
while  thou  maintainest  the  plain  path,  and  scorn- 
est  to  flatter  others,  fall  not  into  self-adulation, 
and  become  not  thine  own  parasite.  Be  deaf 
unto  thyself,  and  be  not  betrayed  at  home. 
Self-credulity,  pride,  and  levity  lead  unto  self- 
idolatry.  There  is  no  Damocles*  like  unto  self- 
opinion,  nor  any  Siren  to  our  own  fawning 
conceptions.  To  magnify  our  minor  things,  or 
hug  ourselves  in  our  apparitions ;  to  afford  a 
credulous  ear  unto  the  clawing  suggestions  of 
fancy ;  to  pass  our  days  in  painted  mistakes 
of  ourselves,  and  though  we  behold  our  own 
blood  to  think  ourselves  the  sons  of  Jupiter: 
are  blandishments  of  self-love,  worse  than  out- 
ward delusion.  By  this  imposture,  wise  men 
sometimes  are  mistaken  in  their  elevation,  and 
look  above  themselves.  And  fools,  which  are 
antipodes  unto  the  wise,  conceive  themselves  to 

*  Damocles,  the  parasite  and  flatterer  of  Dionysius. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  205 

be  but  their  pericecz,  and  in  the  same  parallel 
with  them. 

XXIV.  Be  not  a  Hercules  Furens  abroad, 
and  a  poltroon  within  thyself.  To  chase  our 
enemies  out  of  the  field,  and  be  led  captive  by 
our  vices  ;  to  beat  down  our  foes,  and  fall  down 
to  our  concupiscences  ;  are  solecisms  in  moral 
schools,  and  no  laurel  attends  them.  To  well 
manage  our  affections,  and  wild  horses  of  Plato, 
are  the  highest  Circenses :  *  and  the  noblest 
digladiation  is  in  the  theatre  of  ourselves  ;  for 
therein  our  inward  antagonists,  not  only  like 
common  gladiators,  with  ordinary  weapons  and 
downright  blows  make  at  us,  but  also  like  reti- 
ary  and  laqueary  combatants,  with  nets,  frauds, 
and  entanglements,  fall  upon  us.  Weapons  for 
such  combats  are  not  to  be  forged  at  Lipara;f 
Vulcan's  art  doth  nothing  in  this  internal  mi- 
litia, wherein,  not  the  armour  of  Achilles,  but 
the  armature  of  St.  Paul,  gives  the  glorious  Eph.vi. 
day,  and  triumphs,  not  leading  up  into  capitols, 
but  up  into  the  highest  heavens.  And,  there- 
fore, while  so  many  think  it  the  only  valour  to 
command   and  master  others,  study  thou   the 

*  Plato  speaks  of  man  as  a  charioteer  driving  two  refractory- 
steeds,  given  to  quarrel ;  one  being  immortal  and  heavenly,  the 
other  mortal  and  of  the  earth.  XaKe7rf]  df)  koli  bvvKokos  e$ 
dvdyKTjs  t)  7rep\  rjfids  f}vi6xr)<ris.     Phsedrus,  xxv. 

f  Lipara,  where  Vulcan's  stithy  was  said  to  be. 


206  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

dominion  of  thyself,  and  quiet  thine  own  com- 
motions. Let  right  reason  be  thy  Lycurgus, 
and  lift  up  thy  hand  unto  the  law  of  it :  move  by 
the  intelligences  of  the  superior  faculties,  not  by 
the  rapt  of  passion,  nor  merely  by  that  of  tem- 
per and  constitution.  They  who  are  merely 
carried  on  by  the  wheel  of  such  inclinations, 
without  the  hand  and  guidance  of  sovereign 
reason,  are  but  the  automatous  part  of  man- 
kind, rather  lived  than  living,  or  at  least  un- 
derliving  themselves. 

XXV.  Let  not  fortune,  which  hath  no 
name  in  Scripture,  have  any  in  thy  divinity. 
Let  Providence,  not  chance,  have  the  honour 
of  thy  acknowledgments,  and  be  thy  CEdipus  in 
contingencies.  Mark  well  the  paths  and  wind- 
ing ways  thereof;  but  be  not  too  wise  in  the 
construction,  or  sudden  in  the  application.  The 
hand  of  Providence  writes  often  by  abbrevia- 
tures, hieroglyphics,  or  short  characters,  which, 
Dan.v.  like  the  Laconism  on  the  wall,  are  not  to  be 
made  out  but  by  a  hint  or  key  from  that  Spirit 
which  indited  them.  Leave  future  occurrences 
to  their  uncertainties,  think  that  which  is  pres- 
ent thine  own :  and  since  it  is  easier  to  foretell 
an  eclipse  than  a  foul  day  at  some  distance,  look 
for  little  regular  below.  Attend  with  patience 
the  uncertainty  of  things,  and  what  lieth  yet 
unexerted  in  the  chaos  of  futurity.     The  uncer- 


CHRISTIAN   MORALS.  207 

tainty  and  ignorance  of  things  to  come,  makes 
the  world  new  unto  us  by  unexpected  emergen- 
cies ;  whereby  we  pass  not  our  days  in  the  trite 
road  of  affairs  affording  no  novity ;  for  the  nov- 
elizing spirit  of  man  lives  by  variety,  and  the 
new  faces  of  things. 

XXVI.  Though  a  contented  mind  enlargeth 
the  dimension  of  little  things ;  and  unto  some  it 
is  wealth  enough  not  to  be  poor ;  and  others  are 
well  content  if  they  be  but  rich  enough  to  be 
honest,  and  to  give  every  man  his  due :  yet  fall 
not  into  that  obsolete  affectation  of  bravery,  to 
throw  away  thy  money,  and  to  reject  all  hon- 
ours or  honourable  stations  in  this  courtly  and 
splendid  world.  Old  generosity  is  superannu- 
ated, and  such  contempt  of  the  world  out  of 
date.  No  man  is  now  like  to  refuse  the  favour 
of  great  ones,  or  be  content  to  say  unto  princes, 
Stand  out  of  my  sun.  And  if  there  be  any  of 
such  antiquated  resolutions,  they  are  not  like  to 
be  tempted  out  of  them  by  great  ones  :  and  't  is 
fair  if  they  escape  the  name  of  hypochondriacs 
from  the  genius  of  latter  times;  unto  whom 
contempt  of  the  world  is  the  most  contemptible 
opinion ,  and  to  be  able,  like  Bias,  to  carry  all 
they  have  about  them,  were  to  be  the  eighth 
wise  man.  However,  the  old  tetric  philoso- 
phers looked  always  with  indignation  upon  such 
a  face  of  things ;  and,  observing  the  unnatural 


208  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

current  of  riches,  power,  and  honour  in  the 
world,  and  withal  the  imperfection  and  demerit 
of  persons  often  advanced  unto  them,  were 
tempted  unto  angry  opinions,  that  affairs  were 
ordered  more  by  stars  than  reason,  and  that 
things  went  on  rather  by  lottery  than  election. 
XXVII.  If  thy  vessel  be  but  small  in  the 
ocean  of  this  world,  if  meanness  of  possessions 
be  thy  allotment  upon  earth,  forget  not  those 
virtues  which  the  great  Disposer  of  all  bids  thee 
to  entertain  from  thy  quality  and  condition; 
that  is,  submission,  humility,  content  of  mind, 
and  industry.  Content  may  dwell  in  all  sta- 
tions. To  be  low,  but  above  contempt,  may  be 
high  enough  to  be  happy.  But  many  of  low 
degree  may  be  higher  than  computed,  and  some 
cubits  above  the  common  commensuration ;  for 
in  all  states  virtue  gives  qualifications  and  allow- 
ances, which  make  out  defects.  Rough  dia- 
monds are  sometimes  mistaken  for  pebbles ;  and 
meanness  may  be  rich  in  accomplishments, 
which  riches  in  vain  desire.  If  our  merits  be 
above  our  stations,  if  our  intrinsical  value  be 
greater  than  what  we  go  for,  or  our  value  than 
our  valuation,  and  if  we  stand  higher  in  God's 
than  in  the  censor's  book,*  it  may  make  some 
equitable    balance    in    the   inequalities   of  this 

*  Censor's  booh,  in  which  the  name  and  estate  of  every  Roman 
citizen  was  registered. 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  209 

world,  and  there  may  be  no  such  vast  chasm  or 
gulf  between  disparities  as  common  measures 
determine.  The  Divine  eye  looks  upon  high 
and  low  differently  from  that  of  man.  They 
who  seem  to  stand  upon  Olympus,  and  high 
mounted  unto  our  eyes,  may  be  but  in  the  val- 
leys and  low  ground  unto  his ;  for  he  looks 
upon  those  as  highest  who  nearest  approach  his 
divinity,  and  upon  those  as  lowest  who  are 
farthest  from  it. 

XXVIII.  When  thou  lookest  upon  the  im- 
perfections of  others,  allow  one  eye  for  what  is 
laudable  in  them,  and  the  balance  they  have 
from  some  excellency,  which  may  render  them 
considerable.  While  we  look  with  fear  or 
hatred  upon  the  teeth  of  the  viper,  we  may 
behold  his  eye  with  love.  In  venomous  na-  Cf-Rel- 
tures  something  may  be  amiable :  poisons  afford  2,  x. 
anti-poisons :  nothing  is  totally,  or  altogether 
uselessly  bad.  Notable  virtues  are  sometimes 
dashed  with  notorious  vices,  and  in  some  vicious 
tempers  have  been  found  illustrious  acts  of  vir- 
tue ;  which  makes  such  observable  worth  in 
some  actions  of  King  Demetrius,  Antonius,  and 
Ahab,  as  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  same  kind 
in  Aristides,  Numa,  or  David.  Constancy, 
generosity,  clemency,  and  liberality  have  been 
highly  conspicuous  in  some  persons  not  marked 
out  in  other  concerns  for  example  or  imitation. 
14 


210  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

But  since  goodness  is  exemplary  in  all,  if  others 
have  not  our  virtues,  let  us  not  be  wanting  in 
theirs ;  nor,  scorning  them  for  their  vices  where- 
of we  are  free,  be  condemned  by  their  virtues 
wherein  we  are  deficient.  There  is  dross,  alloy, 
and  embasement  in  all  human  tempers ;  and  he 
flieth  without  wings,  who  thinks  to  find  ophir  or 
pure  metal  in  any.  For  perfection  is  not,  like 
light,  centred  in  any  one  body ;  but,  like  the 
dispersed  seminalities  of  vegetables  at  the  crea- 
tion, scattered  through  the  whole  mass  of  the 
earth,  no  place  producing  all,  and  almost  all 
some.  So  that  't  is  well,  if  a  perfect  man  can 
be  made  out  of  many  men,  and,  to  the  perfect 
eye  of  God,  even  out  of .  mankind.  Time, 
which  perfects  some  things,  imperfects  also  oth- 
ers. Could  we  intimately  apprehend  the  ide- 
ated man,  and  as  he  stood  in  the  intellect  of 
God  upon  the  first  exertion  by  creation,  we 
might  more  narrowly  comprehend  our  present 
degeneration,  and  how  widely  we  are  fallen 
from  the  pure  exemplar  and  idea  of  our  nature : 
for  after  this  corruptive  elongation  from  a  primi- 
tive and  pure  creation,  we  are  almost  lost  in 
degeneration ;  and  Adam  hath  not  only  fallen 
from  his  Creator,  but  we  ourselves  from  Adam, 
our  Tycho  and  primary  generator. 

XXIX.  Quarrel  not  rashly  with  adversities 
not  yet  understood,  and  overlook  not  the  mer- 


CHRISTIAN   MORALS.  211 

cies  often  bound  up  in  them;  for  we  consider 
not  sufficiently  the  good  of  evils,  nor  fairly 
compute  the  mercies  of  Providence  in  things 
afflictive  at  first  hand.  The  famous  Andreas 
Doria  being  invited  to  a  feast  by  Aloysio  Fieschi 
with  design  to  kill  him,  just  the  night  before 
fell  mercifully  into  a  fit  of  the  gout,  and  so 
escaped  that  mischief.  When  Cato  intended  to 
kill  himself,  from  a  blow  which  he  gave  his 
servant,  who  would  not  reach  his  sword  unto 
him,  his  hand  so  swelled  that  he  had  much  ado 
to  effect  his  design.  Hereby  any  one  but  a  re- 
solved Stoic  might  have  taken  a  fair  hint  of 
consideration,  and  that  some  merciml  genius 
would  have  contrived  his  preservation.  To  be 
sagacious  in  such  intercurrences  is  not  super- 
stition, but  wary  and  pious  discretion;  and  to 
contemn  such  hints  were  to  be  deaf  unto  the 
speaking  hand  of  God,  wherein  Socrates  and 
Cardan  would  hardly  have  been  mistaken. 

XXX.  Break  not  open  the  gate  of  destruc- 
tion, and  make  no  haste  or  bustle  unto  ruin. 
Post  not  heedlessly  on  unto  the  non  ultra  of 
folly,  or  precipice  of  perdition.  Let  vicious 
ways  have  their  tropics  and  deflexions,  and 
swim  in  the  waters  of  sin  but  as  in  the  Asphal- 
tic  lake,  though  smeared  and  defiled,  not  to 
sink  to  the  bottom.  If  thou  hast  dipped  thy 
foot  in  the  brink,  yet  venture  not  over  Rubi- 


MO 


212  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

con.*  Run  not  into  extremities  from  whence 
there  is  no  regression.  In  the  vicious  ways 
of  the  world  it  mercifully  falleth  out  that  we 
become  not  extempore  wicked,  but  it  taketh 
some  time  and  pains  to  undo  ourselves.  We 
iiiad  a.  fall  not  from  virtue,  like  Vulcan  from  heaven, 
in  a  day.  Bad  dispositions  required  some  time 
to  grow  into  bad  habits  ;  bad  habits  must  under- 
mine good,  and  often  repeated  acts  make  us 
habitually  evil ;  so  that  by  gradual  deprava- 
tions, and  while  we  are  but  staggeringly  evil, 
we  are  not  left  without  parentheses  of  consider- 
ations, thoughtful  rebukes,  and  merciful  inter- 
ventions to  recall  us  unto  ourselves,  f  For  the 
wisdom  of  God  hath  methodized  the  course  of 
things  unto  the  best  advantage  of  goodness,  and 
thinking  considerators  overlook  not  the  tract 
thereof. 

XXXI.  Since  men  and  women  have  their 
proper  virtues  and  vices,  and  even  twins  of 
different  sexes  have  not  only  distinct  coverings 
in  the  womb,  but  differing  qualities  and  virtuous 
habits  after,  transplace  not  their  proprieties, 
and  confound  not  their  distinctions.     Let  mas- 

*  The  river,  by  crossing  which,  Caesar  declared  war  against 
the  Senate.     Sueton.  Jul.  Cees.  32.    Lucan.  Phars.  i.  184. 
f    "  Shame  leaves  us  by  degrees,  not  at  first  coming; 
For  nature  checks  a  new  offence  with  loathing, 
But  use  of  6in  doth  make  it  seem  as  nothing." 

Daniell. 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  213 

culine  and  feminine  accomplishments  shine  in 
their  proper  orbs,  and  adorn  their  respective 
subjects.  However,  unite  not  the  vices  of  both 
sexes  in  one ;  be  not  monstrous  in  iniquity,  nor 
hermaphroditically  vicious. 

XXXII.  If  generous  honesty,  valour,  and 
plain  dealing  be  the  cognizance  of  thy  family, 
or  characteristic  of  thy  country,  hold  fast  such 
inclinations  sucked  in  with  thy  first  breath,  and 
which  lay  in  the  cradle  with  thee.  Fall  not 
into  transforming  degenerations,  which  under 
the  old  name  create  a  new  nation.     Be  not  an 

alien  in  thine  own  nation ;  bring  not  Orontes  Juv-  Sat« 
into  Tiber ;  learn  the  virtues,  not  the  vices,  of 
thy  foreign  neighbours,  and  make  thy  imitation 
by  discretion,  not  contagion.  Feel  something 
of  thyself  in  the  noble  acts  of  thy  ancestors, 
and  find  in  thine  own  genius  that  of  thy  pre- 
decessors. Rest  not  under  the  expired  merits 
of  others,  shine  by  those  of  thine  own.  Flame 
not  like  the  central  fire  which  enlighteneth  no 
eyes,  which  no  man  seeth,  and  most  men  think 
there  is  no  such  thing  to  be  seen.  Add  one 
ray  unto  the  common  lustre ;  add  not  only  to 
the  number,  but  the  note  of  thy  generation; 
and  prove  not  a  cloud,  but  an  asterisk  in  thy 
region. 

XXXIII.  Since  thou  hast  an  alarum  in  thy 
breast,  which  tells  thee  thou  hast  a  living  spirit 


214  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

in  thee  above  two  thousand  times  in  an  hour, 
dull  not  away  thy  days  in  slothful  supinity  and 
the  tediousness  of  doing  nothing.  To  strenu- 
ous  minds  there  is  an  inquietude  in  overquiet- 
ness,  and  no  laboriousness  in  labour;  and  to 
tread  a  mile  after  the  slow  pace  of  a  snail,  or 
the  heavy  measures  of  the  lazy  of  Brazilia,  were 
a  most  tiring  penance,  and  worse  than  a  race  of 
some  furlongs  at  the  Olympics.  The  rapid 
courses  of  the  heavenly  bodies  are  rather  imi- 
table  by  our  thoughts,  than  our  corporeal  mo- 
tions :  yet  the  solemn  motions  of  our  lives 
amount  unto  a  greater  measure  than  is  com- 
monly apprehended.  Some  few  men  have  sur- 
rounded the  globe  of  the  earth ;  yet  many  in 
the  set  locomotions  and  movements  of  their 
days  have  measured  the  circuit  of  it,  and 
twenty  thousand  miles  have  been  exceeded  by 
them.  Move  circumspectly,  not  meticulously, 
and  rather  carefully  solicitous  than  anxiously 
Prov.  xxii.  solicitudinous.  Think  not  there  is  a  lion  in  the 
way,  nor  walk  with  leaden  sandals  in  the  paths 
of  goodness;  but  in  all  virtuous  motions  let 
prudence  determine  thy  measures.  Strive  not 
to  run,  like  Hercules,  a  furlong  in  a  breath: 
festination  may  prove  precipitation;  deliberat- 
ing delay  may  be  wise  cunctation,  and  slowness 
no  slothfulness. 

XXXIV.    Since  virtuous  actions  have  their 


Vi, 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  215 

own  trumpets,  and,  without  any  noise  from  thy- 
self, will  have  their  resound  abroad,  busy  not  Ps.  ctui.  i. 
thy  best  member  in  the  encomium  of  thyself. 
Praise  is  a  debt  we   owe  unto  the  virtues  of 
others,  and  due  unto  our  own  from  all,  whom 
malice  hath  not  made  mutes,  or  envy  struck 
dumb.      Fall  not,   however,  into  the  common 
prevaricating    way    of    self-commendation    and 
boasting,  by  denoting  the  imperfections  of  oth-  Dante, 
ers.     He  who  discommendeth  others,  obliquely  ^rgXTU- 
commendeth  himself.      He  who  whispers  their 
infirmities,  proclaims  his  own  exemption  from 
them ;  and  consequently  says,  I  am  not  as  this  st.  Luke 
publican,  or  hie  niger,  whom  I  talk  of.     Open  Hor.sat.  i. 
ostentation  and  loud  vainglory  is  more  tolera-  iv*85- 
ble  than  this  obliquity,  as  but  containing  some 
froth,  no  ink ;    as  but  consisting  of  a  personal 
piece  of  folly,  nor  complicated  with  uncharita- 
bleness.      Superfluously  we   seek   a   precarious 
applause    abroad;    every   good   man    hath    his 
plaudite  within  himself;  and  though  his  tongue 
be  silent,  is  not  without  loud  cymbals  in  his 
breast.     Conscience  will  become  his  panegyrist, 
and  never  forget  to  crown  and  extol  him  unto 
himself. 

XXXV.  Bless  not  thyself  only  that  thou 
wert  born  in  Athens;  but,  among  thy  multi- 
plied acknowledgments,  lift  up  one  hand  unto 
heaven,  that  thou  wert  born  of  honest  parents ; 


216  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

that  modesty,  humility,  patience,  and  veracity 
lay  in  the  same  egg,  and  came  into  the  world 
with  thee.  From  such  foundations  thou  may- 
est  be  happy  in  a  virtuous  precocity,  and  make 
an  early  and  long  walk  in  goodness ;  so  mayest 
thou  more  naturally  feel  the  contrariety  of  vice 
unto  nature,  and  resist  some  by  the  antidote  of 
thy  temper.  As  charity  covers,  so  modesty 
preventeth,  a  multitude  of  sins ;  withholding 
from  noonday  vices,  and  brazen-browed  iniqui- 
ties, from  sinning  on  the  house-top,  and  paint- 
ing our  follies  with  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Where 
this  virtue  reigneth,  though  vice  may  show  its 
head,  it  cannot  be  in  its  glory.  Where  shame 
of  sin  sets,  look  not  for  virtue  to  arise ;  for 
when  modesty  taketh  wing,  Astraea*  goes  soon 
after. 

XXXVI.  The  heroical  vein  of  mankind  runs 
much  in  the  soldiery  and  courageous  part  of  the 
world,  and  in  that  form  we  oftenest  find  men 
above  men.  History  is  full  of  the  gallantry 
of  that  tribe ;  and  when  we  read  their  notable 
acts,  we  easily  find  what  a  difference  there  is 
between  a  life  in  Plutarch  and  in  Laertius. 
Where  true  fortitude  dwells,  loyalty,  bounty, 
friendship,  and  fidelity  may  be  found.  A  man 
may  confide   in   persons   constituted  for  noble 

*  Astrcea,  goddess  of  Justice,  find  consequently  of  all  Virtue. 
Ovid.  Met.  i.  150.     Faerie  Queene,  v.  i.  11. 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 


217 


ends,  who  dare  do  and  suffer,  and  who  have  a  i^e  Mu- 
hand  to  burn  for  their  country  and  their  friend.  maA  c< 
Small  and  creeping  things  are  the  product  of  Liy-ii'12- 
petty  souls.      He  is  like  to  be  mistaken,  who 
makes  choice  of  a  covetous  man  for  a  friend,  or 
relieth  upon  the  reed  of  narrow  and  poltroon 
friendship.     Pitiful  things  are  only  to  be  found 
in   the   cottages   of  such   breasts;    but   bright 
thoughts,     clear     deeds,     constancy,     fidelity, 
bounty,  and   generous   honesty,  are   the   gems 
of  noble   minds ;    wherein,    to    derogate    from 
none,  the  true  heroic  English  gentleman  hath 
no  peer. 


V"       OF  THE 


Part   II. 


UNISH  not  thyself  with  pleasure ; 
glut  not  thy  sense  with  palative 
delights,  nor  revenge  the  contempt 
of  temperance  by  the  penalty  of 
satiety.  Were  there  an  age  of  delight  or  any 
pleasure  durable,  who  would  not  honour  Volu- 
pia  ?  but  the  race  of  delight  is  short,  and  pleas- 
ures have  mutable  faces.  The  pleasures  of  one 
age  are  not  pleasures  in  another,  and  their  lives 
fall  short  of  our  own.  Even  in  our  sensual 
days,  the  strength  of  delight  is  in  its  seldom- 
ness  or  rarity,  and  sting  in  its  satiety ;  medioc- 
rity is  its  life,  and  immoderacy  its  confusion. 
The  luxurious  emperors  of  old  inconsiderately 
satiated  themselves  with  the  dainties  of  sea  and 
land,  till,  wearied  through  all  varieties,  their 
refections  became  a  study  unto  them,  and  they 
were  fain  to  feed  by  invention :  novices  in  true 
epicurism !  which  by  mediocrity,  paucity,  quick 
and  healthful  appetite,  makes  delights  smartly 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  219 

acceptable;  whereby  Epicurus  himself  found 
Jupiter's  brain*  in  a  piece  of  Cytheridian 
cheese,  and  the  tongues  of  nightingales  in  a 
dish  of  onions.  Hereby  healthful  and  tem- 
perate poverty  hath  the  start  of  nauseating 
luxury;  unto  whose  clear  and  naked  appetite 
every  meal  is  a  feast,  and  in  one  single  dish  the 
first  course  of  Metellus ;  f  who  are  cheaply  hun- 
gry, and  never  lose  their  hunger  or  advantage 
of  a  craving  appetite,  because  obvious  food  con- 
tents it ;  while  Nero,  half  famished,  could  not 
feed  upon  a  piece  of  bread,  and,  lingering  after 
his  snowed  water,  hardly  got  down  an  ordinary 
cup  of  calda.%  By  such  circumscriptions  of 
pleasure  the  contemned  philosophers  reserved 
unto  themselves  the  secret  of  delight,  which  the 
helluo's  of  those  days  lost  in  their  exorbitances. 
In  vain  we  study  delight :  it  is  at  the  command 
of  every  sober  mind,  and  in  every  sense  born 
with  us :  but  nature,  who  teacheth  us  the  rule 
of  pleasure,  instructeth  also  in  the  bounds 
thereof,  and  where  its  line  expireth.  And 
therefore,  temperate  minds,  not  pressing  their 

*  Cerebrum  Jovis,  for  a  delicious  bit. 

t  Metellus  his  riotous  pontifical  supper,  the  great  variety 
whereat  is  to  be  seen  in  Macrobius.     Saturnal.  iii.  13. 

X  Calda,  tepid  water  with  which  the  ancients  tempered  their 
wine.  "  Fameque  interim  et  $iti  interpellante,  panem  quidem  sor- 
didum  Malum  adspernatus  est,  aquce  autem  tepidee  aliquantum  biHt." 
—  Sueton.  Nero,  48. 


220  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

pleasures  until  the  sting  appeareth,  enjoy  their 
contentations  contentedly  and  without  regret ; 
and  so  escape  the  folly  of  excess,  to  be  pleased 
unto  displacency. 

II.  Bring  candid  eyes  unto  the  perusal  of 
men's  works,  and  let  not  Zoilism  or  detraction 
blast  well-intended  labours.  He  that  endureth 
no  faults  in  men's  writings  must  only  read  his 
own,  wherein  for  the  most  part  all  appeareth 
white.  Quotation  mistakes,  inadvertency,  ex- 
pedition, and  human  lapses,  may  make,  not 
only  moles,  but  warts,  in  learned  authors ;  who 
notwithstanding,  being  judged  by  the  capital 
matter,  admit  not  of  disparagement.  I  should 
unwillingly  affirm  that  Cicero  was  but  slightly 
versed  in  Homer,  because  in  his  work  De  Gloria 
he  ascribed  those  verses  unto  Ajax  which  were 
delivered  by  Hector.  What  if  Plautus  in  the 
account  of  Hercules  mistaketh  nativity  for  con- 
ception? Who  would  have  mean  thoughts  of 
Apollinaris  Sidonius,  who  seems  to  mistake  the 
river  Tigris  for  Euphrates ;  and  though  a  good 
historian  and  learned  bishop  of  Auvergne  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  out  in  the  story  of  David, 
making  mention  of  him  when  the  ark  was  sent 
1  Sam.  vi.  back  by  the  Philistines  upon  a  cart,  which  was 
before  his  time?  Though  I  have  no  great 
opinion  of  Machiavel's  learning,  yet  I  shall  not 
presently  say  that  he  was  but  a  novice  in  Ro- 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  221 

man  history,  because  he  was  mistaken  in  placing 
Commodus  after  the  Emperor  Severus.  Capi- 
tal truths  are  to  be  narrowly  eyed  ;  collateral 
lapses  and  circumstantial  deliveries  not  to  be  too 
strictly  sifted.  And  if  the  substantial  subject 
be  well  forged  out,  we  need  not  examine  the 
sparks  which  irregularly  fly  from  it. 

III.  Let  well-weighed  considerations,  not  stiff 
and  peremptory  assumptions,  guide  thy  discour- 
ses, pen,  and  actions.  To  begin  or  continue 
our  works  like  Trismegistus  of  old,  verum  certe 
verum  atque  verissimum  est,  would  sound  arro- 
gantly unto  present  ears  in  this  strict  inquiring 
age ;  wherein,  for  the  most  part,  probably  and 
perhaps  Avill  hardly  serve  to  mollify  the  spirit 
of  captious  contradictors.  If  Cardan  saith  that 
a  parrot  is  a  beautiful  bird,  Scaliger  will  set  his 
wits  to  work  to  prove  it  a  deformed  animal. 
The  compage  of  all  physical  truths  is  not  so 
closely  jointed,  but  opposition  may  find  intru- 
sion ;  nor  always  so  closely  maintained,  as  not 
to  suffer  attrition.  Many  positions  seem  quod- 
libetically  constituted,  and  like  a  Delphian  blade 
will  cut  on  both  sides.  Some  truths  seem  al- 
most falsehoods,  and  some  falsehoods  almost 
truths ;  wherein  falsehood  and  truth  seem  almost 
equilibriously  stated,  and  but  a  few  grains  of 
distinction  to  bear  down  the  balance.  Some 
have   digged   deep,  yet   glanced  by  the  royal 


222  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

vein  ;  and  a  man  may  come  unto  the  pericar- 
dium, but  not  the  heart  of  truth.  Besides, 
many  things  are  known,  as  some  are  seen,  that 
is,  by  parallaxis,  or  at  some  distance  from  their 
true  and  proper  beings,  the  superficial  regard 
of  things  having  a  different  aspect  from  their 
true  and  central  natures.  And  this  moves  so- 
ber pens  unto  suspensory  and  timorous  asser- 
tions, nor  presently  to  obtrude  them  as  Sibyls' 
leaves;  which  after  considerations  may  find  to 
be  but  folious  appearances,  and  not  the  central 
and  vital  interiors  of  truth. 

IV.  Value  the  judicious,  and  let  not  mere 
acquests  in  minor  parts  of  learning  gain  thy 
pre-existimation.  It  is  an  unjust  way  of  com- 
pute, to  magnify  a  weak  head  for  some  Latin 
abilities ;  and  to  undervalue  a  solid  judgment, 
because  he  knows  not  the  genealogy  of  Hector. 
When  that  notable  king  of  France  *  would  have 
his  son  to  know  but  one  sentence  in  Latin,  had 
it  been  a  good  one,  perhaps  it  had  been  enough. 
Natural  parts  and  good  judgments  rule  the 
world.  States  are  not  governed  by  ergotisms. 
Many  have  ruled  well,  who  could  not,  perhaps, 
define  a  Commonwealth  ;  and  they  who  under- 
stand not  the  globe  of  the  earth,  command  a 
great  part  of  it.  Where  natural  logic  prevails 
not,  artificial  too  often  faileth.     Where  nature 

*  Louis  XL     "  Qui  nescit  dissimulare  nescit  regnare." 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  223 

fills  the  sails,  the  vessel  goes  smoothly  on ;  and 
when  judgment  is  the  pilot,  the  insurance  need 
not  be  high.  When  industry  builds  upon  na- 
ture, we  may  expect  pyramids:  where  that 
foundation  is  wanting,  the  structure  must  be 
low.  They  do  most  by  books,  who  could  do 
much  without  them  ;  and  he  that  chiefly  owes 
himself  unto  himself,  is  the  substantial  man. 

Y.  Let  thy  studies  be  free  as  thy  thoughts 
and  contemplations :  but  fly  not  only  upon  the 
wings  of  imagination ;  join  sense  unto  reason, 
and  experiment  unto  speculation,  and  so  give 
life  unto  embryon  truths  and  verities  yet  in 
their  chaos.  There  is  nothing  more  acceptable 
unto  the  ingenious  world,  than  this  noble  eluc- 
tation  of  truth ;  wherein,  against  the  tenacity 
of  prejudice  and  prescription,  this  century  now 
prevaileth.  What  libraries  of  new  volumes  af- 
ter-times will  behold,  and  in  what  a  new  world 
of  knowledge  the  eyes  of  our  posterity  may  be 
happy,  a  few  ages  may  joyfully  declare  ;  and 
is  but  a  cold  thought  unto  those,  who  cannot 
hope  to  behold  this  exantlation  of  truth,  or  that 
obscured  virgin  half  out  of  the  pit :  which  might 
make  some  content  with  a  commutation  of  the 
time  of  their  lives,  and  to  commend  the  fancy 
of  the  Pythagorean  metempsychosis:  whereby 
they  might  hope  to  enjoy  this  happiness  in 
their  third  or  fourth   selves,  and   behold   that 


224  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

in  Pythagoras,  which  they  now  but  foresee  in 
Euphorbus.*  The  world,  which  took  but  six 
days  to  make,  is  like  to  take  six  thousand  to 
make  out:  meanwhile  old  truths  voted  down 
begin  to  resume  their  places,  and  new  ones 
arise  upon  us;  wherein  there  is  no  comfort  in 
the  happiness  of  Tully's  Elysium,!  or  any  satis- 
faction from  the  ghosts  of  the  ancients,  who 
knew  so  little  of  what  is  now  well  known. 
Men  disparage  not  antiquity,  who  prudently 
exalt  new  inquiries,  and  make  not  them  the 
judges  of  truth,  who  were  but  fellow-inquirers 
of  it.  Who  can  but  magnify  the  endeavours 
of  Aristotle,  and  the  noble  start  which  learn- 
ing had  under  him ;  or  less  than  pity  the  slen- 
der progression  made  upon  such  advantages ; 
while  many  centuries  were  lost  in  repetitions 
and  transcriptions  sealing  up  the  book  of  knowl- 
edge ?  And  therefore,  rather  than  to  swell  the 
leaves  of  learning  by  fruitless  repetitions,  to 
sing  the  same  song  in  all  ages,  nor  adventure 
at  essays  beyond  the  attempt  of  others,  many 
would  be  content  that  some  would  write  like 
Helmont  or  Paracelsus ;  and  be  willing  to  en- 

*  Pythagoras,  in  accordance  with  his  doctrine  of  metempsy- 
chosis, or  more  correctly  metensomatosis,  declared  that  he  him- 
self had  been  present  at  the  siege  of  Troy  as  Euphorbus.  Ovid. 
Met.  xv.  160.     Hor.  Od.  I.  xxviii.  11. 

t  In  which  Socrates  comforted  himself  that  he  should  converse 
with  the  worthies  of  old.     Tusc.  Diep.  i.  xli. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  225 

dure  the  monstrosity  of  some  opinions  for  di- 
vers singular  notions  requiting  such  aberrations. 
VI.  Despise  not  the  obliquities  of  younger 
ways,  nor  despair  of  better  things  whereof  there 
is  yet  no  prospect.  Who  would  imagine  that 
Diogenes,  who  in  his  younger  days  was  a  fal- 
sifier of  money,  should,  in  the  after  course  of 
his  life,  be  so  great  a  contemner  of  metal  ? 
Some  negroes,  who  believe  the  resurrection, 
think  that  they  shall  rise  white.  Even  in  this 
life  regeneration  may  imitate  resurrection  ;  our 
black  and  vicious  tinctures  may  wear  off,  and 
goodness  clothe  us  with  candor.  Good  admo- 
nitions knock  not  always  in  vain.  There  will 
be  signal  examples  of  God's  mercy,  and  the 
angels  must  not  want  their  charitable  rejoices  st.Luko 
for  the  conversion  of  lost  sinners.  Figures  of 
most  angles  do  nearest  approach  unto  circles, 
which  have  no  angles  at  all.  Some  may  be 
near  unto  goodness  who  are  conceived  far  from 
it ;  and  many  things  happen,  not  likely  to  ensue 
from  any  promises  of  antecedencies.  Culpable 
beginnings  have  found  commendable  conclusions, 
and  infamous  courses  pious  retractations.  De- 
testable sinners  have  proved  exemplary  converts 
on  earth,  and  may  be  glorious  in  the  apartment 
of  Mary  Magdalen  in  heaven.  Men  are  not 
the  same  through  all  divisions  of  their  ages: 
time,  experience,  self-reflections,  and  God's  mer- 
15 


23-33. 


226  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

cies,  make  in  some  well-tempered  minds  a  kind 
of  translation  before  death,  and  men  to  differ 
from  themselves  as  well  as  from  other  persons. 
Hereof  the  old  world  afforded  many  examples 
to  the  infamy  of  latter  ages,  wherein  men  too 
often  live  by  the  rule  of  their  inclinations ;  so 
that,  without  any  astral  prediction,  the  first  day 
gives  the  last :  men  are  commonly  as  they  were  ; 
or  rather,  as  bad  dispositions  run  into  worser 
habits,  the  evening  doth  not  crown,  but  sourly 
conclude,  the  day. 

VII.  If  the  Almighty  will  not  spare  us  ac- 
Gen.  xviu.  cording  to  his  merciful  capitulation  at  Sodom ; 
if  his  goodness  please  not  to  pass  over  a  great 
deal  of  bad  for  a  small  pittance  of  good,  or  to 
look  upon  us  in  the  lump ;  there  is  slender  hope 
for  mercy,  or  sound  presumption  of  fulfilling 
half  his  will,  either  in  persons  or  nations :  they 
who  excel  in  some  virtues  being  so  often  de- 
fective in  others ;  few  men  driving  at  the  extent 
and  amplitude  of  goodness,  but  computing  them- 
selves by  their  best  parts,  and  others  by  their 
worst,  are  content  to  rest  in  those  virtues  which 
others  commonly  want.  Which  makes  this  spec- 
kled face  of  honesty  in  the  world ;  and  which 
was  the  imperfection  of  the  old  philosophers  and 
great  pretenders  unto  virtue ;  who  well  declin- 
ing the  gaping  vices  of  intemperance,  inconti- 
nency,  violence,  and  oppression,  were  yet  blind- 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  227 

ly  peccant  in  iniquities  of  closer  faces ;  were 
envious,  malicious,  contemners,  scoffers,  cen- 
surers,  and  stuffed  with  vizard  vices,  no  less 
depraving  the  ethereal  particle  and  diviner  por- 
tion of  man.  For  envy,  malice,  hatred,  are 
the  qualities  of  Satan,  close  and  dark  like  him- 
self; and  where  such  brands  smoke,  the  soul 
cannot  be  white.  Vice  may  be  had  at  all  prices; 
expensive  and  costly  iniquities  which  make  the 
noise,  cannot  be  every  man's  sins ;  but  the  soul 
may  be  foully  inquinated  at  a  very  low  rate, 
and  a  man  may  be  cheaply  vicious  to  the  per- 
dition of  himself. 

VIII.  Opinion  rides  upon  the  neck  of  reason ; 
and  men  are  happy,  wise,  or  learned,  according 
as  that  empress  shall  set  them  down  in  the 
register  of  reputation.  However,  weigh  not 
thyself  in  the  scales  of  thy  own  opinion,  but 
let  the  judgment  of  the  judicious  be  the  stand- 
ard of  thy  merit.  Self-estimation  is  a  flatterer 
too  readily  entitling  us  unto  knowledge  and 
abilities,  which  others  solicitously  labour  after, 
and  doubtfully  think  they  attain.  Surely,  such 
confident  tempers  do  pass  their  days  in  best 
tranquillity ;  who,  resting  in  the  opinion  of  their 
own  abilities,  are  happily  gulled  by  such  con- 
tentation ;  wherein  pride,  self-conceit,  confi- 
dence, and  opiniatrity  will  hardly  suffer  any 
to  complain  of  imperfection.     To  think  them- 


228  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

selves  in  the  right,  or  all  that  right,  or  only 
that,  which  they  do  or  think,  is  a  fallacy  of 
high  content ;  though  others  laugh  in  their 
sleeves,  and  look  upon  them  as  in  a  deluded 
state  of  judgment:  wherein,  notwithstanding, 
it  were  but  a  civil  piece  of  complacency  to  suffer 
them  to  sleep  who  would  not  wake,  to  let  them 
rest  in  their  securities,  nor  by  dissent  or  oppo- 
sition to  stagger  their  contentments. 

IX.  Since  the  brow  speaks  often  true,  since 
eyes  and  noses  have  tongues,  and  the  counte- 
nance proclaims  the  heart  and  inclinations,  let 
observation  so  far  instruct  thee  in  physiognomi- 
cal lines,  as  to  be  some  rule  for  thy  distinction, 
and  guide  for  thy  affection  unto  such  as  look 
most  like  men.  Mankind,  methinks,  is  compre- 
hended in  a  few  faces,  if  we  exclude  all  visages 
which  any  way  participate  of  symmetries  and 
schemes  of  look  common  unto  other  animals. 
For  as  though  man  were  the  extract  of  the 
world,  in  whom  all  were  in  coagulato,  which  in 
their  forms  were  in  soluto  and  at  extension ;  we 
often  observe  that  men  do  most  act  those  crea- 
tures, whose  constitution,  parts,  and  complexion 
do  most  predominate  in  their  mixtures.  This 
is  a  corner-stone  in  physiognomy,  and  holds 
some  truth  not  only  in  particular  persons,  but 
also  in  whole  nations.  There  are,  therefore, 
provincial  faces,  national  lips  and  noses,  which 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  229 

testify  not  only  the  natures  of  those  countries, 
but  of  those  which  have  them  elsewhere.  Thus 
we  may  make  England  the  whole  earth,  divid- 
ing it  not  only  into  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  but 
the  particular  regions  thereof ;  and  may  in  some 
latitude  affirm,  that  there  are  Egyptians,  Scy- 
thians, Indians  among  us,  who,  though  born  in 
England,  yet  carry  the  faces  and  air  of  those 
countries,  and  are  also  agreeable  and  corre- 
spondent unto  their  natures.  Faces  look  uni- 
formly unto  our  eyes :  how  they  appear  unto 
some  animals  of  a  more  piercing  or  differing 
sight,  who  are  able  to  discover  the  inequalities, 
rubs  and  hairiness  of  the  skin,  is  not  without 
good  doubt ;  and,  therefore,  in  reference  unto 
man,  Cupid  is  said  to  be  blind.  Affection 
should  not  be  too  sharp-eyed,  and  love  is  not 
to  be  made  by  magnifying-glasses.  If  things 
were  seen  as  they  truly  are,  the  beauty  of  bod- 
ies would  be  much  abridged.  And,  therefore, 
the  Wise  Contriver  hath  drawn  the  pictures 
and  outsides  of  things  softly  and  amiably  unto 
the  natural  edge  of  our  eyes,  not  leaving  them 
able  to  discover  those  uncomely  asperities,  which 
make  oyster-shells  in  good  faces,  and  hedgehogs 
even  in  Venus's  moles. 

X.  Court  not  felicity  too  far,  and  weary  not 
the  favourable  hand  of  fortune.  Glorious  ac- 
tions have  their  times,  extent,  and  non  ultra's. 


230  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

To  put  no  end  unto  attempts  were  to  make  pre- 
scription of  successes,  and  to  bespeak  unhappi- 
aii  '■  weii  ness  at  the  last ;    for  the  line  of  our  lives  is 
wen,  iy.  3.  drawn  with  white  and  black  vicissitudes,  where- 
in the  extremes  hold  seldom  one  complexion. 
That  Pompey  should   obtain   the    surname  of 
Great  at  twenty-five  years ;  that  men  in  their 
young  and  active  days  should  be  fortunate  and 
perform  notable  things ;   is  no  observation   of 
deep  wonder,  they  having  the  strength  of  their 
fates  before  them,  nor  yet  acted  their  parts  in 
the  world  for  which  they  were  brought  into  it ; 
whereas  men  of  years,  matured  for  counsels  and 
designs,  seem  to  be  beyond  the  vigour  of  their 
active  fortunes,  and  high  exploits  of  life,  provi- 
dentially ordained  unto  ages  best  agreeable  unto 
them.     And,  therefore,  many  brave  men,  find- 
ing their   fortune    grow   faint,    and   feeling  its 
declination,  have  timely  withdrawn  themselves 
from  great  attempts,  and  so  escaped  the  ends  of 
mighty  men,  disproportionable  to   their  begin- 
nings.     But   magnanimous    thoughts    have    so 
dimmed  the  eyes  of  many,  that  forgetting  the 
seethe       very  essence  of  fortune,  and  the  vicissitude  of 
poTctates  g00(l   an(l  ev^'  *ney  apprehend  no  bottom   in 
and  Ama-    felicity,  and  so  have  been  still  tempted  on  unto 
UL40  seq.  mignty  actions,  reserved  for  their  destructions. 
For  fortune  lays  the  plot  of  our  adversities  in 
the  foundation  of  our  felicities,  blessing  us  in 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  231 

the  first  quadrate,  to  blast  us  more  sharply  in 
the  last.  And  since  in  the  highest  felicities 
there  lieth  a  capacity  of  the  lowest  miseries, 
she  hath  this  advantage  from  our  happiness  to 
make  us  truly  miserable ;  for  to  become  acutely 
miserable  we  are  to  be  first  happy.  Affliction 
smarts  most  in  the  most  happy  state,  as  having 
somewhat  in  it  of  Belisarius  at  beggar's  bush, 
or  Bajazet  in  the  grate.  And  this  the  fallen 
angels  severely  understand,  who  having  acted 
their  first  part  in  Heaven,  are  made  sharply 
miserable  by  transition,  and  more  afflictively 
feel  the  contrary  state  of  Hell. 

XI.  Carry  no  careless  eye  upon  the  unex- 
pected scenes  of  things,  but  ponder  the  acts  of 
Providence  in  the  public  ends  of  great  and 
notable  men,  set  out  unto  the  view  of  all  for 
no  common  memorandums.  The  tragical  exits 
and  unexpected  periods  of  some  eminent  per- 
sons cannot  but  amuse  considerate  observators ; 
wherein,  notwithstanding,  most  men  seem  to 
see  by  extramission,  without  reception  or  self- 
reflection,  and  conceive  themselves  uncon- 
cerned by  the  fallacy  of  their  own  exemption ; 
whereas,  the  mercy  of  God  hath  singled  out 
but  few  to  be  the  signals  of  his  justice,  leaving 
the  generality  of  mankind  to  the  pedagogy  of 
example.  But  the  inadvertency  of  our  natures 
not  well  apprehending   this  favourable  method 


1  Cor.  xv. 
43. 


232  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

and  merciful  decimation,  and  that  He  showeth 
in  some  what  others  also  deserve ;  they  enter- 
tain no  sense  of  his  hand  beyond  the  stroke  of 
themselves.  Whereupon  the  whole  becomes 
necessarily  punished,  and  the  contracted  hand 
of  God  extended  unto  universal  judgments ; 
from  whence,  nevertheless,  the  stupidity  of  our 
tempers  receives  but  faint  impressions,  and  in 
the  most  tragical  state  of  times  holds  but  starts 
of  good  motions.  So  that  to  continue  us  in 
goodness  there  must  be  iterated  returns  of  mis- 
ery, and  a  circulation  in  affliction  is  necessary. 
And  since  we  cannot  be  wise  by  warnings ; 
since  plagues  are  insignificant,  except  we  be 
personally  plagued ;  since  also  we  cannot  be 
punished  unto  amendment  by  proxy  or  commu- 
tation, nor  by  vicinity,  but  contaction ;  there  is 
an  unhappy  necessity  that  we  must  smart  in 
our  own  skins,  and  the  provoked  arm  of  the 
Almighty  must  fall  upon  ourselves.  The  capi- 
tal sufferings  of  others  are  rather  our  monitions 
than  acquitments.  There  is  but  One  who  died 
salvifically  for  us,  and  able  to  say  unto  death, 
Hitherto  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther;  only 
one  enlivening  death,  which  makes  gardens  of 
graves,  and  that  which  was  sowed  in  corruption 
to  arise  and  flourish  in  glory :  when  death  itself 
shall  die,  and  living  shall  have  no  period ;  when 
the  damned  shall  mourn  at  the  funeral  of  death  ; 


CHRISTIAN   MORALS.  233 

when  life,  not  death,  shall  be  the  wages  of  sin :  Rom.  vi. 
when  the  second  death  shall  prove  a  miserable  |3JV  vL 
life,  and  destruction  shall  be  courted.  W-17. 

XII.  Although  their  thoughts  may  seem  too 
severe,  who  think  that  few  ill-natured  men  go  to 
heaven ;  yet  it  may  be  acknowledged  that  good- 
natured  persons  are  best  founded  for  that  place, 
who  enter  the  world  with  good  dispositions 
and  natural  graces,  more  ready  to  be  advanced 
by  impressions  from  above,  and  Christianized 
unto  pieties,  who  carry  about  them  plain  and 
downright  dealing  minds,  humility,  mercy,  char- 
ity, and  virtues  acceptable  unto  God  and  man. 
But  whatever  success  they  may  have  as  to 
heaven,  they  are  the  acceptable  men  on  earth, 
and  happy  is  he  who  hath  his  quiver  full 
of  them  for  his  friends.  These  are  not  the 
dens  wherein  falsehood  lurks,  and  hypocrisy 
hides  its  head,  wherein  frowardness  makes  its 
nest,  or  where  malice,  hard-heartedness,  and 
oppression  love  to  dwell ;  not  those  by  whom 
the  poor  get  little,  and  the  rich  some  time  lose 
all ;  men,  not  of  retracted  looks,  but  who  carry 
their  hearts  in  their  faces,  and  need  not  to  be 
looked .  upon  with  perspectives  ;  not  sordidly  or 
mischievously  ingrateful;  who  cannot  learn  to 
ride  upon  the  neck  of  the  afflicted,  nor  load  the 
heavy  laden,  but  who  keep  the  temple  of  Janus 
shut  by  peaceable  and  quiet  tempers ;  who  make 


234  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

not  only  the  best  friends,  but  the  best  enemies, 
as  easier  to  forgive  than  offend,  and  ready  to 
pass  by  the  second  offence  before  they  avenge 
the  first ;  who  make  natural  Royalists,  obedient 
Subjects,  kind  and  merciful  Princes,  verified 
in  our  own,  one  of  the  best-natured  Kings  of 
this  throne.  Of  the  old  Roman  Emperors  the 
best  were  the  best-natured,  though  they  made 
but  a  small  number,  and  might  be  writ  in  a 
ring.  Many  of  the  rest  were  as  bad  men  as 
princes ;  humourists,  rather  than  of  good  hu- 
mours ;  and  of  good  natural  parts,  rather  than 
of  good  natures,  which  did  but  arm  their  bad 
inclinations,  and  make  them  wittily  wicked. 

XIII.  With  what  shift  and  pains  we  come 
into  the  world  we  remember  not,  but  't  is  com- 
monly found  no  easy  matter  to  get  out  of  it. 
Many  have  studied  to  exasperate  the  ways  of 
death,  but  fewer  hours  have  been  spent  to 
soften  that  necessity.  That  the  smoothest  way 
unto  the  grave  is  made  by  bleeding,  as  common 
opinion  presumeth,  beside  the  sick  and  fainting 
languors  which  accompany  that  effusion,  the 
Tacitus,  experiment  in  Lucan  and  Seneca  will  make  us 
63. 70.  doubt :  under  which  the  noble  Stoic  so  deeply 
laboured,  that,  to  conceal  his  affliction,  he  was 
fain  to  retire  from  the  sight  of  his  wife,  and 
not  ashamed  to  implore  the  merciful  hand  of 
his   physician    to    shorten   his    misery   therein. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  235 

Ovid,  the  old  heroes,  and  the  Stoics,  who  were  Ovid,Tnst 
so  afraid  of  drowning,  as  dreading  thereby  the  "  * "  ' 
extinction  of  their  soul,  which  they  conceived 
to  be  a  fire,  stood  probably  in  fear  of  an  easier 
way  of  death ;  wherein  the  water,  entering  the 
possessions  of  air,  makes  a  temperate  suffocation, 
and  kills,  as  it  were,  without  a  fever.  Surely 
many  who  have  had  the  spirit  to  destroy  them- 
selves, have  not  been  ingenious  in  the  contri- 
vance thereof.  'T  was  a  dull  way  practised  by 
Themistocles,  to  overwhelm  himself  with  bull's  Vid<> 
blood,  who  being  an  Athenian,  might  have  held 
an  easier  theory  of  death  from  the  state  potion 
of  his  country ;  from  which  Socrates,  in  Plato, 
seemed  not  to  suffer  much  more  than  from  the 
fit  of  an  ague.  Cato  is  much  to  be  pitied,  who 
mangled  himself  with  poniards ;  and  Hannibal 
seems  more  subtle,  who  carried  his  delivery, 
not  in  the  point,  but  the  pummel  of  his  sword.* 
The  Egyptians  were  merciful  contrivers,  who 
destroyed  their  malefactors  by  asps,  charming 
their  senses  into  an  invincible  sleep,  and  killing 
as  it  were  with  Hermes  his  rod.  The  Turkish 
emperor,  odious  for  other  cruelty,  was  herein 
a  remarkable  master  of  mercy,  killing  his  fa- 
vourite in  his  sleep,  and  sending  him  from  the 

*  Wherein  he  is  said  to  have  carried  something,  whereby  upon 
a  struggle  or  despair  he  might  deliver  himself  from  all  misfor- 
tunes.   Juvenal  says  it  was  carried  in  a  ring.    Sat.  x.  165. 


236  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

shade  into  the  house  of  darkness.  He  who  had 
been  thus  destroyed  would  hardly  have  bled 
at  the  presence  of  his  destroyer :  when  men 
are  already  dead  by  metaphor,  and  pass  but 
from  one  sleep  unto  another,  wanting  herein 
the  eminent  part  of  severity  to  feel  themselves 
to  die ;  and  escaping  the  sharpest  attendant  of 
death,  the  lively  apprehension  thereof.  But  to 
learn  to  die  is  better  than  to  study  the  ways 
of  dying.  Death  will  find  some  ways  to  untie 
or  cut  the  most  Gordian  knots  of  life,  and  make 
men's  miseries  as  mortal  as  themselves  ;  where- 
as evil  spirits,  as  undying  substances,  are  insep- 
arable from  their  calamities ;  and,  therefore, 
they  everlastingly  struggle  under  their  angus- 
tias,  and,  bound  up  with  immortality,  can  never 
get  out  of  themselves. 


Part   III. 


,T  is  hard  to  find  a  whole  age  to  imi- 
tate, or  what  century  to  propose  for 
example.  Some  have  been  far  more 
•  approvable  than  others ;  but  virtue 
and  vice,  panegyrics  and  satires,  scatteringly 
to  be  found  in  all.  History  sets  down  not  only 
things  laudable,  but  abominable ;  things  which 
should  never  have  been,  or  never  have  been 
known ;  so  that  noble  patterns  must  be  fetched 
here  and  there  from  single  persons,  rather  than 
whole  nations ;  and  from  whole  nations  rather 
than  any  one.  The  world  was  early  bad,  and 
the  first  sin  the  most  deplorable  of  any.  The 
younger  world  afforded  the  oldest  men,  and 
perhaps  the  best  and  the  worst,  when  length  of 
days  made  virtuous  habits  heroical  and  immov- 
able ;  vicious,  inveterate  and  irreclaimable. 
And  since  't  is  said  that  the  imaginations  of  Gen.vi 
their  hearts  were  evil,  only  evil,  and  continu- 


238  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

ally  evil ;  it  may  be  feared  that  their  sins  held 
pace  with  their  lives,  and  their  longevity  swell- 
ing their  impieties,  the  longanimity  of  God 
would  no  longer  endure  such  vivacious  abomi- 
nations. Their  impieties  were  surely  of  a  deep 
dye,  which  required  the  whole  Element  of 
Water  to  wash  them  away,  and  overwhelmed 
their  memories  with  themselves ;  and  so  shut 
up  the  first  windows  of  Time,  leaving  no  his- 
tories of  those  longevous  generations,  when 
men  might  have  been  properly  historians,  when 
Adam  might  have  read  long  lectures  unto  Me- 
thuselah, and  Methuselah  unto  Noah.  For  had 
we  been  happy  in  just  historical  accounts  of 
that  unparalleled  world,  we  might  have  been 
acquainted  with  wonders,  and  have  understood 
not  a  little  of  the  acts  and  undertakings  of 
Moses  his  mighty  men,  and  men  of  renown  of 
old,  which  might  have  enlarged  our  thoughts, 
and  made  the  world  older  unto  us.  For  the 
unknown  part  of  time  shortens  the  estimation, 
if  not  the  compute  of  it.  What  hath  escaped 
our  knowledge,  falls  not  under  our  considera- 
tion; and  what  is  and  will  be  latent,  is  little 
better  than  non-existent. 

II.  Some  things  are  dictated  for  our  instruc- 
tion, some  acted  for  our  imitation  ;  wherein  it  is 
best  to  ascend  unto  the  highest  conformity,  and 
to  the  honour  of  the  exemplar.      He  honours 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  239 

God,  who  imitates  him;*  for  what  we  virtu- 
ously imitate  we  approve  and  admire  ;  and  since 
we  delight  not  to  imitate  inferiors,  we  aggran- 
dize and  magnify  those  we  imitate ;  since  also 
we  are  most  apt  to  imitate  those  we  love,  we 
testify  our  affection  in  our  imitation  of  the  inim- 
itable. To  affect  to  be  like,  may  be  no  imita- 
tion ;  to  act,  and  not  to  be  what  we  pretend  to 
imitate,  is  but  a  mimical  conformation,  and  car- 
rieth  no  virtue  in  it.  Lucifer  imitated  not  God, 
when  he  said  he  would  be  like  the  Highest ; 
and  he  imitated  not  Jupiter,  who  counterfeited  Salmoneus- 

.  Virjr.  iEn. 

thunder.  Where  imitation  can  go  no  farther,  vi.  5S5. 
let  admiration  step  on,  whereof  there  is  no  end 
in  the  wisest  form  of  men.  Even  angels  and 
spirits  have  enough  to  admire  in  their  sublimer 
natures ;  admiration  being  the  act  of  the  crea- 
ture, and  not  of  God,  who  doth  not  admire 
himself.  Created  natures  allow  of  swelling 
hyperboles ;  nothing  can  be  said  hyperbolically 
of  God,  nor  will  his  attributes  admit  of  expres- 
sions above  their   own  exuperances.     Trisme- 


*  "  He  prayeth  well,  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 
He  prayeth  best,  who  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 

Coleridge. 
Cf.  St.  Matt.  vi.  12,  U,  15. 


240  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

gistus  his  circle,  whose  centre  is  everywhere 
and  circumference  nowhere,  was  no  hyperbole. 
Words  cannot  exceed,  where  they  cannot  ex- 
press enough.  Even  the  most  winged  thoughts 
fall  at  the  setting  out,  and  reach  not  the  portal 
of  Divinity. 

III.  In  bivious  theorems,  and  Janus-faced 
doctrines,  let  virtuous  considerations  state  the 
determination.  Look  upon  opinions  as  thou 
dost  upon  the  moon,  and  choose  not  the  dark 
hemisphere  for  thy  contemplation.  Embrace 
not  the  opacous  and  blind  side  of  opinions,  but 
that  which  looks  most  luciferously  or  influen- 
tially  unto  goodness.  It  is  better  to  think  that 
there  are  Guardian  Spirits,  than  that  there  are 
no  spirits  to  guard  us ;  that  vicious  persons  are 
slaves,  than  that  there  is  any  servitude  in  vir- 
tue ;  that  times  past  have  been  better  than 
times  present,  than  that  times  were  always 
bad ;  and  that  to  be  men  it  sufficeth  to  be 
no  better  than  men  in  all  ages,  and  so  promis- 
cuously to  swim  down  the  turbid  stream,  and 
make  up  the  grand  confusion.  Sow  not  thy 
understanding  with  opinions,  which  make  noth- 
ing of  iniquities,  and  fallaciously  extenuate  trans- 
gressions. Look  upon  vices  and  vicious  objects 
with  hyperbolical  eyes ;  and  rather  enlarge  their 
dimensions,  that  their  unseen  deformities  may 
not  escape  thy  sense,  and  their  poisonous  parts 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  241 

and  stings  may  appear  massy  and  monstrous 
unto  thee :  for  the  undiscerned  particles  and 
atoms  of  evil  deceive  us,  and  we  are  undone 
by  the  invisibles  of  seeming  goodness.  We  are 
only  deceived  in  what  is  not  discerned,  and  to 
err  is  but  to  be  blind  or  dim-sighted  as  to  some 
perceptions. 

IV.  To  be  honest  in  a  right  line,  and  virtu-  Linea  recta 

i  •   •,  i         n  l  •    i        brevissima. 

ous  by  epitome,  be  firm  unto  such,  principles 
of  goodness  as  carry  in  them  volumes  of  in- 
struction and  may  abridge  thy  labour.  And 
since  instructions  are  many,  hold  close  unto 
those,  whereon  the  rest  depend ;  so  may  we 
have  all  in  a  few,  and  the  law  and  the  prophets 
in  a  rule ;  the  Sacred  Writ  in  stenography,  and 
the  Scripture  in  a  nut-shell.  To  pursue  the 
osseous  and  solid  part  of  goodness,  which  gives 
stability  and  rectitude  to  all  the  rest ;  to  settle 
on  fundamental  virtues,  and  bid  early  defiance 
unto  mother-vices,  which  carry  in  their  bowels 
the  seminals  of  other  iniquities,  makes  a  short 
cut  in  goodness,  and  strikes  not  off  a  head,  but 
the  whole  neck  of  Hydra.  For  we  are  carried 
into  the  dark  lake,  like  the  Egyptian  river  into 
the  sea,  by  seven  principal  ostiaries :  the  mother- 
sins  of  that  number  are  the  deadly  engines  of 
evil  spirits  that  undo  us,  and  even  evil  spirits 
themselves ;  and  he  who  is  under  the  chains 
thereof  is  not  without  a  possession.  Mary  Mag- 
16 


242  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

st.  Luke  dalene  had  more  than  seven  devils,  if  these 
with  their  imps  were  in  her;  and  he  who  is 

viii.  30.  thus  possessed,  may  literally  be  named  Legion. 
Where  such  plants  grow  and  prosper,  look  for 
no  champaign  or  region  void  of  thorns ;  but 
productions  like  the  tree  of  Goa,*  and  forests 
of  abomination. 

V.  Guide  not  the  hand  of  God,  nor  order 
the  finger  of  the  Almighty  unto  thy  will  and 
.  pleasure;  but  sit  quiet  in  the  soft  showers  of 
Providence,  and  favourable  distributions  in  this 
world,  either  to  thyself  or  others.  And  since 
-not  only  judgments  have  their  errands,  but 
mercies  their  commissions,  snatch  not  at  every 
favour,  nor  think  thyself  passed  by  if  they  fall 
upon  thy  neighbour.  Rake  not  up  envious 
displacences  at  things  successful  unto  others, 
which  the  Wise  Disposer  of  all  things  thinks  not 
fit  for  thyself.  Reconcile  the  events  of  things 
unto  both  beings,  that  is,  of  this  world  and  the 
next ;  so  will  there  not  seem  so  many  riddles  in 
Providence,  nor  various  inequalities  in  the  dis- 
pensation of  things  below.  If  thou  dost  not 
anoint  thy  face,  yet  put  not  on  sackcloth  at  the 

Fa«rie      felicities  of  others.     Repining  at  the  good  draws 

Queene  i. 

iv.  30.     on  rejoicing  at  the  evils  of  others,  and  so  falls  into 

*  Arbor  Goa  de  Ruyz,  or  Ficus  Indica,  whose  branches  send 
down  shoots  which  root  in  the  ground,  from  whence  there  suc- 
cessively rise  others,  till  one  tree  becomes  a  wood.  Plin.  H.  N» 
xii.  5.    Milton,  P.  L.  ix.  1101. 


CHRISTIAN   MORALS.  243 

that  inhuman  vice  for  which  so  few  languages 
have  a  name.  The  blessed  spirits  above  rejoice 
at  our  happiness  below ;  but  to  be  glad  at  the 
evils  of  one  another  is  beyond  the  malignity 
of  hell,  and  falls  not  on  evil  spirits,  who,  though 
they  rejoice  at  our  unhappiness,  take  no  pleas- 
ure at  the  afflictions  of  their  own  society  or  of 
their  fellow  natures.  Degenerous  heads !  who 
must  be  fain  to  learn  from  such  examples,  and 
to  be  taught  from  the  School  of  Hell. 

VI.  Grain  not  thy  vicious  stains,  nor  deepen 
those  swart  tinctures  which  temper,  infirmity, 
or  ill  habits  have  set  upon  thee  ;  and  fix  not,  by 
iterated  depravations,  what  time  might  efface,  or 
virtuous  washes  expunge.  He  who  thus  still  ad- 
vanceth  in  iniquity,  deepeneth  his  deformed  hue, 
turns  a  shadow  into  night,  and  makes  himself  a 
negro  in  the  black  jaundice  ;  and  so  becomes  one 
of  those  lost  ones,  the  disproportionate  pores  of 
whose  brains  afford  no  entrance  unto  good  mo- 
tions, but  reflect  and  frustrate  all  counsels,  deaf 
unto  the  thunder  of  the  laws,  and  rocks  unto  the 
cries  of  charitable  commiserators.  He  who  hath 
had  the  patience  of  Diogenes,  to  make  orations 
unto  statues,  may  more  sensibly  apprehend  how 
all  words  fall  to  the  ground,  spent  upon  such  a 
surd  and  earless  generation  of  men,  stupid  unto 
all  instruction,  and  rather  requiring  an  exorcist 
than  an  orator  for  their  conversion  ! 


244  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

VII.  Burden  not  the  back  of  Aries,  Leo,  or 
Taurus  with  thy  faults  ;  nor  make  Saturn,  Mars, 
or  Venus  guilty  of  thy  follies.     Think  not  to 
fasten  thy  imperfections  on  the  stars,  and  so  de- 
spairingly conceive  thyself  under  a  fatality  of 
being  evil.     Calculate  thyself  within ;  seek  not 
thyself  in  the  moon,  but  in  thine  own  orb  or  mi- 
crocosmical  circumference.    Let  celestial  aspects 
admonish  and  advertise,  not  conclude  and  deter- 
mine thy  ways.     For  since  good  and  bad  stars 
moralize  not  our  actions,  and  neither  excuse  or 
commend,  acquit  or  condemn  our  good  or  bad 
deeds   at  the  present  or  last  bar  ;    since  some 
are  astrologically  well  disposed  who  are  mor- 
ally highly  vicious  ;  not  celestial  figures,  but  vir- 
tuous schemes,  must  denominate  and  state  our 
rs.  cxivii.    actions.     If  we  rightly  understood   the   names 
is.  xi.  26.    whereby  God  calleth  the  stars  ;  if  we  knew  his 
cf.  Job       name  for  the  Dog-star,  or  by  what  appellation 
31,32.        Jupiter,    Mars,    and    Saturn    obey  his  will;   it 
might  be  a  welcome  accession  unto  astrology, 
which  speaks  great  things,  and  is  fain  to  make 
use   of  appellations  from   Greek  and  Barbaric 
systems.     Whatever  influences,  impulsions,   or 
inclinations  there  be  from  the  lights  above,  it 
were  a  piece  of  wisdom  to  make  one  of  those 
sapiens  do-  wjse  men  w}10  overrule  their  stars,   and  with 
astris.        their   own    Militia   contend   with   the    Host  of 
Heaven.     Unto  which  attempt  there  want  not 


4. 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  245 

auxiliaries  from  the  whole  strength  of  morality, 
supplies  from  Christian  ethics,  influences  also 
and  illuminations  from  above,  more  powerful 
than  the  Lights  of  Heaven. 

VIII.  Confound  not  the  distinctions  of  thy 
life  which  nature  hath  divided ;  that  is,  youth, 
adolescence,  manhood,  and  old  age  :  nor  in 
these  divided  periods,  wherein  thou  art  in  a 
manner  four,  conceive  thyself  but  one.  Let 
every  division  be  happy  in  its  proper  virtues, 
nor  one  vice  run  through  all.  Let  each  dis- 
tinction have  its  salutary  transition,  and  criti- 
cally deliver  thee  from  the  imperfections  of  the 
former ;  so  ordering  the  whole,  that  prudence 
and  virtue  may  have  the  largest  section.  Do  icor.  xni. 
as  a  child  but  when  thou  art  a  child,  and  ride  Hflc#gafca) 
not  on  a  reed  at  twenty.  He  who  hath  not  3-248- 
taken  leave  of  the  follies  of  his  youth,  and  in 
his  maturer  state  scarce  got  out  of  that  division, 
disproportionately  divideth  his  days,  crowds  up 
the  latter  part  of  his  life,  and  leaves  too  narrow 
a  corner  for  the  age  of  wisdom ;  and  so  hath 
room  to  be  a  man,  scarce  longer  than  he  hath 
been  a  youth.  Rather  than  to  make  this  confu- 
sion, anticipate  the  virtues  of  age,  and  live  long 
without  the  infirmities  of  it.  So  mayest  thou 
count  up  thy  days  as  some  do  Adam's,  that  is, 
by  anticipation ;  so  mayest  thou  be  coetaneous  Cf.  Rei. 
unto  thy  elders,  and  a  father  unto  thy  contem-  ^^ 
poraries. 


246  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

IX.  While  others  are  curious  in  the  choice  of 
good  air,  and  chiefly  solicitous  for  healthful  hab- 
itations, study  thou  conversation,  and  be  critical 
in  thy  consortion.  The  aspects,  conjunctions, 
and  configurations  of  the  stars,  which  mutually 
diversify,  intend,  or  qualify  their  influences,  are 
but  the  varieties  of  their  nearer  or  farther  con- 
versation with  one  another,  and  like  the  con- 
sortion of  men,  whereby  they  become  better  or 
worse,  and  even  exchange  their  natures.  Since 
men  live  by  examples,  and  will  be  imitating 
something,  order  thy  imitation  to  thy  improve- 
ment, not  thy  ruin.  Look  not  for  roses  in  At- 
talus  his  garden,*  or  wholesome  flowers  in  a 
venomous  plantation.  And  since  there  is  scarce 
any  one  bad,  but  some  others  are  the  worse  for 
him,  tempt  not  contagion  by  proximity,  and  haz- 
ard not  thyself  in  the  shadow  of  corruption. 
He  who  hath  not  early  suffered  this  shipwreck, 
vide  The-  an(J  m  hjs  younger  days  escaped  this  Charybdis, 
piutarch.  may  make  a  happy  voyage,  and  not  come  in 
with  black  sails  into  the  port.  Self-conversation, 
or  to  be  alone,  is  better  than  such  consortion. 
Some  schoolmen  tell  us,  that  he  is  properly 
alone,  with  whom  in  the  same  place  there  is 
Dan.  iv.     no  other  of  the  same  species.     Nebuchadnezzar 

*  Omissa  deinde  regni  administratione,  hortos  fodiebat,  gramma 
seminabai,  el  noxia  innoxiis  permiscebat ;  eaque  omnia  veneni 
succo  infecta,  velut peculiare  munus,  amicis  mittebat.  Justin.  Hist, 
xxxvi.  4. 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  247 

was  alone,  though  among  the  beasts  of  the  field ; 
and  a  wise  man  may  be  tolerably  said  to  be 
alone,  though  with  a  rabble  of  people  little 
better  than  the  beasts  about  him.  Unthinking 
heads,  who  have  not  learned  to  be  alone,  are  in 
a  prison  to  themselves,  if  they  be  not  also  with 
others  :  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  they  whose 
thoughts  are  in  a  fair,  and  hurry  within,  are 
sometimes  fain  to  retire  into  company,  to  be 
out  of  the  crowd  of  themselves.  He  who  must 
needs  have  company,  must  needs  have  some- 
times bad  company.  Be  able  to  be  alone.  Lose 
not  the  advantage  of  solitude,  and  the  society  of 
thyself ;  nor  be  only  content,  but  delight  to  be 
alone  and  single  with  Omnipresency.  He  who 
is  thus  prepared,  the  day  is  not  uneasy,  nor  the 
night  black  unto  him.  Darkness  may  bound 
his  eyes,  not  his  imagination.  In  his  bed  he 
may  lie,  like  Pompey  and  his  sons,  in  all  quar- 
ters of  the  earth  ;  *  may  speculate  the  universe, 
and  enjoy  the  whole  world  in  the  hermitage  of 
himself.  Thus  the  old  ascetic  Christians  found 
a  paradise  in  a  desert,  and  with  little  converse 
on  earth  held  a  conversation  in  heaven ;  thus 
they  astronomised  in  caves,  and,  though  they 
beheld  not  the  stars,  had  the  glory  of  heaven 
before  them. 

*  "  Pompeios  Juvenes  Asia  atque  Eurqpa,  sed  ipsum  terra  tegit 
Libyes.'''1 


248  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

X.  Let  the  characters  of  good  things  stand 
indelibly  in  thy  mind,  and  thy  thoughts  be  ac- 
tive on  them.  Trust  not  too  much  unto  suo> 
gestions  from  reminiscential  amulets,  or  artificial 
memorandums.  Let  the  mortifying  Janus  of 
Covarrubias  *  be  in  thy  daily  thoughts,  not  only 
on  thy  hand  and  signets.  Rely  not  alone  upon 
silent  and  dumb  remembrances.  Behold  not 
death's  heads  till  thou  dost  not  see  them,  nor 
look  upon  mortifying  objects  till  thou  overlook- 
est  them.  Forget  not  how  assuefaction  unto 
anything  minorates  the  passion  from  it;  how 
constant  objects  lose  their  hints,  and  steal  an 
inadvertisement  upon  us.  There  is  no  excuse 
to  forget  what  everything  prompts  unto  us.  To 
thoughtful  observators,  the  whole  world  is  a 
phylactery ;  and  everything  we  see,  an  item  of 
the  wisdom,  power,  or  goodness  of  God.  Hap- 
py are  they  who  verify  their  amulets,  and  make 
their  phylacteries  speak  in  their  lives  and  ac- 
tions. To  run  on  in  despite  of  the  revulsions 
and  pull-backs  of  such  remoras,  aggravates  our 
transgressions.  When  death's  heads  on  our 
hands  have  no  influence  upon  our  heads,  and 

*  Don  Sebastian  de  Covarrubias  writ  three  centuries  of  moral 
emblems,  in  Spanish.  In  the  88th  of  the  second  century,  he  sets 
down  two  faces  averse,  and  conjoined,  Janus-like;  the  one  a  gal- 
lant beautiful  face,  the  other  a  death's-head  face,  with  this  motto 
out  of  Ovid  his  Metamorphosis, 

"  Quid  fuerim,  quid  simque,  vide." 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  249 

fleshless  cadavers  abate  not  the  exorbitances  of 
the  flesh;  when  crucifixes  upon  men's  hearts 
suppress  not  their  bad  commotions,  and  His 
image  who  was  murdered  for  us  withholds  not 
from  blood  and  murder ;  phylacteries  prove  but 
formalities,  and  their  despised  hints  sharpen  our 
condemnations. 

XI.  Look  not  for  whales  in  the  Euxine  Sea, 
or  expect  great  matters  where  they  are  not  to 
be  found.  Seek  not  for  profundity  in  shallow- 
ness, or  fertility  in  a  wilderness.  Place  not  the 
expectation  of  great  happiness  here  below,  or 
think  to  find  heaven  on  earth;  wherein  we 
must  be  content  with  embryon  felicities,  and 
fruitions  of  doubtful  faces :  for  the  circle  of  our 
felicities  makes  but  short  arches.  In  every 
clime  we  are  in  a  periscian  state ;  *  and,  with 
our  light,  our  shadow  and  darkness  walk  about 
us.  Our  contentments  stand  upon  the  tops  of 
pyramids,  ready  to  fall  off,  and  the  insecurity 
of  their  enjoyments  abrupteth  our  tranquillities. 
What  we  magnify  is  magnificent,  but,  like  to 
the  Colossus,  noble  without,  stuffed  with  rub- 
bish and  coarse  metal  within.  Even  the  sun, 
whose  glorious  outside  we  behold,  may  have 
dark  and  smoky  entrails.     In  vain  we   admire 

*  The  Periscii  are  those  who,  living  within  the  polar  circle, 
see  the  sun  move  round  them,  and  consequently  project  their 
shadows  in  all  directions. 


250  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

the  lustre  of  anything  seen :  that  which  is  truly 
glorious,  is  invisible.  Paradise  was  but  a  part 
of  the  earth,  lost  not  only  to  our  fruition  but 
our  knowledge.  And  if,  according  to  old  dic- 
tates, no  man  can  be  said  to  be  happy  before 
death ;  the  happiness  of  this  life  goes  for  noth- 
ing before  it  be  over,  and  while  we  think  our- 
selves happy  we  do  but  usurp  that  name.  Cer- 
tainly, true  beatitude  groweth  not  on  earth,  nor 
hath  this  world  in  it  the  expectations  we  have 
of  it.  He  swims  in  oil,  and  can  hardly  avoid 
sinking,  who  hath  such  light  foundations  to  sup- 
port him :  't  is  therefore  happy,  that  we  have 
two  worlds  to  hold  on.  To  enjoy  true  happi- 
ness we  must  travel  into  a  very  far  country, 
and  even  out  of  ourselves ;  for  the  pearl  we 
seek  for  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Indian,  but  in 
the  empyrean  ocean. 
Ecci.Tii.  9.  XII.  Answer  not  the  spur  of  fury,  and  be 
not  prodigal  or  prodigious  in  revenge.  Make 
See  vediua  not  one  in  the  Historia  Tiorribilis ;  flay  not  thy 
^f";  XT  servant  for  a  broken  glass,  nor  pound  him  in 

Phn.  II.  N.  fc>  '  r 

ix.23.  a  mortar  who  offendeth  thee  ;  supererogate  not 
PrlTxxviL  m  tne  worst  sense,  and  overdo  not  the  neces- 
22-  sities  of  evil ;  humour  not  the  injustice  of  re- 

venge. Be  not  stoically  mistaken  in  the  equal- 
ity of  sins,  nor  commutatively  iniquous  in  the 
valuation  of  transgressions ;  but  weigh  them  in 
the  scales   of  heaven,  and  by  the  weights  of 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  251 

righteous  reason.  Think  that  revenge  too  high 
which  is  but  level  with  the  offence.  Let  thy 
arrows  of  revenge  fly  short ;  or  be  aimed  like 
those  of  Jonathan,  to  fall  beside  the  mark.     Too  * Sam-  **- 

20. 

many  there  be  to  whom  a  dead  enemy  smells 
well,  and  who  find  musk  and  amber  in  revenge. 
The  ferity  of  such  minds  holds  no  rule  in  re- 
taliations ;  requiring  too  often  a  head  for  a 
tooth,  and  the  supreme  revenge  for  trespasses 
which  a  night's  rest  should  obliterate.  But 
patient  meekness  takes  injuries  like  pills,  not 
chewing,  but  swallowing  them  down,  laconically 
suffering,  and  silently  passing  them  over ;  while 
angered  pride  makes  a  noise,  like  Homerican  Juv.  Sat. 
Mars,  at  every  scratch  of  offences.  Since  wo- 
men do  most  delight  in  revenge,  it  may  seem  Sat- xiii- 
but  feminine  manhood  to  be  vindictive.  If  thou 
must  needs  have  thy  revenge  of  thine  enemy, 
with  a  soft  tongue  break  his  bones,  heap  coals  Prov  xxy- 

15  21  22. 

of  fire  on  his  head,  forgive  him  and  enjoy  it. 
To  forgive  our  enemies  is  a  charming  way  of 
revenge,  and  a  short  Caesarean  conquest,  over- 
coming without  a  blow ;  laying  our  enemies  at 
our  feet,  under  sorrow,  shame,  and  repentance ; 
leaving  our  foes  our  friends,  and  solicitously 
inclined  to  grateful  retaliations.  Thus  to  re- 
turn upon  our  adversaries  is  a  healing  way  of 
revenge ;  and  to  do  good  for  evil  a  soft  and 
melting  ultion,  a  method  taught  from  heaven  to 


252  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

keep  all  smooth  on  earth.*  Common  forcible 
ways  make  not  an  end  of  evil,  but  leave  hatred 
and  malice  behind  them.  An  enemy  thus  rec- 
onciled is  little  to  be  trusted,  as  wan  tins  the 
foundation  of  love  and  charity,  and  but  for  a 
time  restrained  by  disadvantage  or  inability. 
If  thou  hast  not  mercy  for  others,  yet  be  not 
cruel  unto  thyself.  To  ruminate  upon  evils, 
to  make  critical  notes  upon  injuries,  and  be  too 
acute  in  their  apprehensions,  is  to  add  unto  our 
own  tortures,  to  feather  the  arrows  of  our  en- 
emies, to  lash  ourselves  with  the  scorpions  of 
our  foes,  and  to  resolve  to  sleep  no  more ;  for 
injuries  long  dreamt  on,  take  away  at  last  all 
rest ;  and  he  sleeps  but  like  Regulus  who  busi- 
eth  his  head  about  them.f 

XIII.  Amuse  not  thyself  about  the  riddles 
of  future  things.  Study  prophecies  when  they 
are  become  histories,  and  past  hovering  in  their 
causes.  Eye  well  things  past  and  present,  and 
let  conjectural  sagacity  suffice  for  things  to  come. 
There  is  a  sober  latitude  for  prescience  in  con- 
tingencies of  discoverable  tempers,  whereby  dis- 
cerning heads  see  sometimes  beyond  their  eyes, 

*  "  Hath  any  wronged  thee  ?  he  bravely  revenged ;  sleight  it, 
and  the  work  's  begun;  forgive  it,  'tis  finisht:  he  is  below  him- 
selfe  that  is  not  above  an  injury."  —  Quarles's  Enchir.  ii.  86. 

t  Like  Regulus.  Dion  Cassius  relates  that,  when  Regulus  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Carthaginians,  he  was  kept  shut  up  with  an 
Elephant,  in  order  that  his  sleep  might  be  disturbed. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  253 

and  wise  men  become  prophetical.  Leave 
cloudy  predictions  to  their  periods,  and  let  ap- 
pointed seasons  have  the  lot  of  their  accom- 
plishments. It  is  too  early  to  study  such  proph- 
ecies before  they  have  been  long  made,  before 
some  train  of  their  causes  have  already  taken 
fire,  laying  open  in  part  what  lay  obscure  and 
before  buried  unto  us.  For  the  voice  of  proph- 
ecies is  like  that  of  whispering-places  ;  they  who 
are  near,  or  at  a  little  distance,  hear  nothing; 
those  at  the  farthest  extremity  will  understand 
all.  But  a  retrograde  cognition  of  times  past, 
and  things  which  have  already  been,  is  more 
satisfactory  than  a  suspended  knowledge  of  what 
is  yet  unexistent.  And  the  greatest  part  of 
time  being  already  wrapt  up  in  things  behind 
us,  it  is  now  somewhat  late  to  bait  after  things 
before  us ;  for  futurity  still  shortens,  and  time 
present  sucks  in  time  to  come.  What  is  pro- 
phetical in  one  age,  proves  historical  in  another, 
and  so  must  hold  on  unto  the  last  of  time  ; 
when  there  will  be  no  room  for  prediction,  when 
Janus  shall  lose  one  face,  and  the  long  beard  of 
time  shall  look  like  those  of  David's  servants,  2Sam.x.4. 
shorn  away  upon  one  side ;  and  when,  if  the 
expected  Elias  should  appear,  he  might  say 
much  of  what  is  past,  not  much  of  what  is  to 
come. 

XIV.  Live  unto  the  dignity  of  thy  nature, 


254  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

and  leave  it  not  disputable  at  last,  whether 
thou  hast  been  a  man ;  or,  since  thou  art  a  com- 
position of  man  and  beast,  how  thou  hast  pre- 
dominantly passed  thy  days,  to  state  the  denom- 
ination. Unman  not,  therefore,  thyself  by  a 
bestial  transformation,  nor  realize  old  fables. 
Expose  not  thyself  by  four-footed  manners  unto 
monstrous  draughts,  and  caricatura  representa- 
tions. Think  not  after  the  old  Pythagorean 
conceit,  what  beast  thou  mayest  be  after  death. 
Be  not  under  any  brutal  metempsychosis  while 
thou  livest,  and  walkest  about  erectly  under 
the  scheme  of  man.  In  thine  own  circumfer- 
ence, as  in  that  of  the  earth,  let  the  rational 
horizon  be  larger  than  the  sensible,  and  the 
circle  of  reason  than  of  sense ;  let  the  divine 
part  be  upward,  and  the  region  of  beast  below ; 
otherwise,  it  is  but  to  live  invertedly,  and  with 
thy  head  unto  the  heels  of  thy  antipodes.  De- 
sert not  thy  title  to  a  divine  particle  and  union 
with  invisibles.  Let  true  knowledge  and  vir- 
tue  tell  the  lower  world  thou  art  a  part  of  the 
higher.  Let  thy  thoughts  be  of  things  which 
have  not  entered  into  the  hearts  of  beasts  ;  think 
of  things  long  passed,  and  long  to  come :  ac- 
quaint thyself  with  the  choragium  of  the  stars, 
and  consider  the  vast  expansion  beyond  them. 
Let  intellectual  tubes  give  thee  a  glance  of 
things,  which  visive  organs  reach  not.     Have 


HE  ' 

1  IfeE  E  S I T 1 

a  glimpse  of  incomprehensibles,  and  thoughts 
of  things  which  thoughts  but  tenderly  touch. 
Lodge  immaterials  in  thy  head;  ascend  unto 
invisibles ;  fill  thy  spirit  with  spirituals,  with 
the  mysteries  of  faith,  the  magnalities  of  relig- 
ion, and  thy  life  with  the  honour  of  God ;  with- 
out which,  though  giants  in  wealth  and  dignity, 
we  are  but  dwarfs  and  pigmies  in  humanity, 
and  may  hold  a  pitiful  rank  in  that  triple  divis- 
ion of  mankind  into  heroes,  men,  and  beasts. 
For  though  human  souls  are  said  to  be  equal, 
yet  is  there  no  small  inequality  in  their  opera- 
tions; some  maintain  the  allowable  station  of 
men ;  many  are  far  below  it ;  and  some  have  been 
so  divine  as  to  approach  the  apogeum  of  their 
natures,  and  to  be  in  the  confinium  of  spirits. 

XV.  Behold  thyself  by  inward  optics  and 
the  crystalline  of  thy  soul.  Strange  it  is,  that 
in  the  most  perfect  sense  there  should  be  so 
many  fallacies,  that  we  are  fain  to  make  a  doc- 
trine, and  often  to  see  by  art.  But  the  great- 
est imperfection  is  in  our  inward  sight,  that  is, 
to  be  ghosts  unto  our  own  eyes ;  and  while  we 
are  so  sharp-sighted  as  to  look  through  others, 
to  be  invisible  unto  ourselves;  for  the  inward 
eyes  are    more    fallacious   than   the   outward.* 

*  "  Is  it  because  the  mind  is  like  the  eye 

(Through  which  it  gathers  knowledge  by  degrees), 
Whose  rays  reflect  not,  but  spread  outwardly; 
Not  seeing  itself  when  other  things  it  sees  ? 


256  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

The  vices  we  scoff  at  in  others  laugh  at  us 
within  ourselves.  Avarice,  pride,  falsehood  lie 
undiscerned  and  blindly  in  us,  even  to  the  age 
of  blindness;  and,  therefore,  to  see  ourselves 
interiorly,  we  are  fain  to  borrow  other  men's 
eyes ;  wherein  true  friends  are  good  informers, 
and  censurers  no  bad  friends.  Conscience  only, 
that  can  see  without  light,  sits  in  the  Areopa- 
gy  and  dark  tribunal  of  our  hearts,  surveying 
our  thoughts  and  condemning  their  obliquities. 
Happy  is  that  state  of  vision  that  can  see  with- 
out light,  though  all  should  look  as  before  the 
creation,  when  there  was  not  an  eye  to  see,  or 
light  to  actuate  a  vision :  wherein,  notwithstand- 
ing, obscurity  is  only  imaginable  respectively 
unto  eyes :  for  unto  God  there  was  none  ;  eter- 
nal Light  was  ever ;  created  light  was  for  the 
creation,  not  himself;  and  as  he  saw  before  the 
sun,  may  still  also  see  without  it.  In  the  city 
Rev.  xxi.  0f  the  new  Jerusalem  there  is  neither  sun  nor 

23. 

xxii.  5.  moon ;  where  glorified  eyes  must  see  by  the 
archetypal  Sun,  or  the  light  of  God,  able  to 
illuminate  intellectual  eyes,  and  make  unknown 
visions.     Intuitive   perceptions  in  spiritual  be- 

"  No,  doubtless;  for  the  mind  can  backward  cast 
Upon  herself  her  understanding  light ; 
But  she  is  so  corrupt,  and  so  defaced, 
As  her  own  image  doth  herself  affright." 

Sir  John  Davies. 
Cf.  Troilus  and  Cressida,  iii.  3. 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  257 

ings  may,  perhaps,  hold  some  analogy  unto 
vision ;  but  yet  how  they  see  us,  or  one  another, 
what  eye,  what  light,  or  what  perception  is 
required  unto  their  intuition,  is  yet  dark  unto 
our  apprehension :  and  even  how  they  see  God, 
or  how  unto  our  glorified  eyes  the  beatifical  cr.  Rei. 
vision  will  be  celebrated,  another  world  must 
tell  us,  when  perceptions  will  be  new,  and  we 
may  hope  to  behold  invisibles. 

XVI.  When  all  looks  fair  about,  and  thou 
seest  not  a  cloud  so  big  as  a  hand  to  threaten  l  Kins3 

*~*^  xviii*  44» 

thee,  forget  not  the  wheel  of  things :  think  of 
sullen  vicissitudes,  but  beat  not  thy  brains  to 
foreknow  them.  Be  armed  against  such  ob- 
scurities, rather  by  submission  than  foreknowl- 
edge. The  knowledge  of  future  evils  mortifies 
present  felicities,  and  there  is  more  content  in 
the  uncertainty  or  ignorance  of  them.  This 
favour  our  Saviour  vouchsafed  unto  Peter,  when  st- Jobn 

xxi.  18,19. 

he  foretold  not  his  death  in  plain  terms,  and  so 
by  an  ambiguous  and  cloudy  delivery  damped 
not  the  spirit  of  his  disciples.  But  in  the  as- 
sured foreknowledge  of  the  deluge,  Noah  lived 
many  years  under  the  affliction  of  a  flood ;  and 
Jerusalem  was  taken  unto  Jeremiah  before  it 
was  besieged.  And  therefore  the  wisdom  of 
astrologers,  who  speak  of  future  things,  hath 
wisely  softened  the  severity  of  their  doctrines ; 
and  even  in  their  sad  predictions,  while  they 
17 


258  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

tell  us  of  inclination,  not  coaction,  from  the 
stars,  they  kill  us  not  with  Stygian  oaths  and 
merciless  necessity,  but  leave  us  hope  of  evasion. 
XVII.  If  thou  hast  the  brow  to  endure  the 
name  of  traitor,  perjured,  or  oppressor,  yet  cov- 
er thy  face  when  ingratitude  is  thrown  at  thee. 
If  that  degenerous  vice  possess  thee,  hide  thy- 
self in  the  shadow  of  thy  shame,  and  pollute 
not  noble  society.  Grateful  ingenuities  are  con- 
tent to  be  obliged  within  some  compass  of  ret- 
ribution ;  and  being  depressed  by  the  weight 
of  iterated  favours,  may  so  labour  under  their 
inabilities  of  requital,  as  to  abate  the  content 
from  kindnesses.  But  narrow,  self-ended  souls 
make  prescription  of  good  offices,  and,  obliged 
by  often  favours,  think  others  still  due  unto 
them :  whereas,  if  they  but  once  fail,  they  prove 
so  perversely  ungrateful  as  to  make  nothing  of 
former  courtesies,  and  to  bury  all  that  is  past. 
Such  tempers  pervert  the  generous  course  of 
things ;  for  they  discourage  the  inclinations  of 
noble  minds,  and  make  beneficency  cool  unto 
acts  of  obligation,  whereby  the  grateful  world 
should  subsist,  and  have  their  consolation.  Com- 
mon gratitude  must  be  kept  alive  by  the  addi- 
tionally fuel  of  new  courtesies :  but  generous 
gratitudes,  though  but  once  well  obliged,  with- 
out quickening  repetitions  or  expectation  of  new 
favours,  have  thankful  minds  forever ;  for  they 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  259 

write  not  their  obligations  in  sandy,  but  marble 
memories,  which  wear  not  out  but  with  them- 
selves. 

XVIII.  Think  not  silence  the  wisdom  of 
fools,  but,  if  rightly  timed,  the  honour  of  wise 
men  who  have  not  the  infirmity  but  the  virtue 

of  taciturnity ;  and  speak  not  out  of  the  abun-  st.  Matt. 
dance,  but  the  well-weighed  thoughts  of  their 
hearts.  Such  silence  may  be  eloquence,  and  speak 
thy  worth  above  the  power  of  words.  Make 
such  a  one  thy  friend,  in  whom  princes  may  be 
happy,  and  great  counsels  successful.  Let  him 
have  the  key  of  thy  heart,  who  hath  the  lock  of 
his  own,  which  no  temptation  can  open  ;  *  where 
thy  secrets  may  lastingly  lie,  like  the  lamp  in 
Olybius  his  urn,  alive,  and  light,  but  close  and 
invisible. 

XIX.  Let  thy  oaths  be  sacred,  and  promises 

be  made  upon  the  altar  of  thy  heart.  Call  not  cic.Ep.ad 
Jove  to  witness,  with  a  stone  m  one  hand,  and  12. 
a  straw  in  another;  and  so  make  chaff  and 
stubble  of  thy  vows.  Worldly  spirits,  whose 
interest  is  their  belief,  make  cobwebs  of  obliga- 
tions ;  and,  if  they  can  find  ways  to  elude  the 
urn  of  the  Praetor,!  will  trust  the  thunderbolt 

*  " keep  thy  friend 

Under  thy  own  life's  key." 

All 's  Well  that  Ends  Well,  i.  1.    Cf.  Ham.  ill.  2. 
t  The  vessel  into  which  the  ticket  of  condemnation  or  acquittal 
was  cast.     Dr.  Johnson. 


260  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

of  Jupiter ;   and,   therefore,  if  they  should  as 
Knoiies's     deeply  swear  as  Osman  to  Bethlem  Gabor,  yet 

Ilist.  of  the       .   r  ~  .  nil  i    ,  i  -,      . 

Turks,        whether  they  would  be  bound  by  those  chains, 
p.  1383.       an(j  not  flnc[  wavs  to  cut  such  Gordian  knots, 
we  could  have  no  just  assurance.     But  honest 
men's  words  are  Stygian    oaths,  and   promises 
inviolable.     These  are  not  the  men  for  whom 
the  fetters  of  law  were  first  forged ;  they  needed 
coiendofi-  not  the  solemnness  of  oaths ;  by  keeping  their 
CuTtiuT"    faith  they  swear,  and  evacuate  such  confirma- 
tions. 

XX.  Though  the  world  be  histrionical,  and 
most  men  live  ironically,  yet  be  thou  what  thou 
singly  art,  and  personate  only  thyself.  Swim 
smoothly  in  the  stream  of  thy  nature,  and  live 
but  one  man.  To  single  hearts  doubling  is  dis- 
cruciating:  such  tempers  must  sweat  to  dis- 
semble, and  prove  but  hypocritical  hypocrites. 
Simulation  must  be  short :  men  do  not  easily 
continue  a  counterfeiting  life,  or  dissemble  unto 
death.  He  who  counterfeiteth,  acts  a  part; 
and  is,  as  it  were,  out  of  himself:  which,  if 
long,  proves  so  irksome,  that  men  are  glad  to 
pull  off  their  vizards,  and  resume  themselves 
again ;  no  practice  being  able  to  naturalize  such 
unnaturals,  or  make  a  man  rest  content  not  to 
be  himself.  And  therefore,  since  sincerity  is 
thy  temper,  let  veracity  be  thy  virtue,  in  words, 
manners,  and  actions.      To  offer  at  iniquities, 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  261 

which  have  so  little  foundations  in  thee,  were  to 
be  vicious  up-hill,  and  strain  for  thy  condem- 
nation. Persons  viciously  inclined  want  no 
wheels  to  make  them  actively  vicious ;  as  hav- 
ing the  elater  and  spring  of  their  own  natures 
to  facilitate  their  iniquities.  And  therefore  so 
many  who  are  sinistrous  unto  good  actions,  are 
ambidexterous  unto  bad  ;  and  Vulcans  in  virtu- 
ous paths,  Achilleses  in  vicious  motions. 

XXI.  Rest  not  in  the  high-strained  para- 
doxes of  old  philosophy,  supported  by  naked 
reason  and  the  reward  of  mortal  felicity ;  but 
labour  in  the  ethics  of  faith,  built  upon  heavenly 
assistance,  and  the  happiness  of  both  beings. 
Understand  the  rules,  but  swear  not  unto  the 
doctrines  of  Zeno  or  Epicurus.  Look  beyond 
Antoninus,  and  terminate  not  thy  morals  in 
Seneca  or  Epictetus.  Let  not  the  twelve,  but 
the  two  tables  be  thy  Law :  let  Pythagoras  be 
thy  remembrancer,  not  thy  textuary  and  final 
instructor;  and  learn  the  vanity  of  the  world 
rather  from  Solomon  than  Phocylides.  Sleep 
not  in  the  dogmas  of  the  Peripatus,  Academy, 
or  Porticus.  Be  a  moralist  of  the  Mount,* 
an  Epictetus  in  the  faith,  and  Christianize  thy 
notions. 

XXII.  In   seventy   or   eighty   years  a  man 

*  That  is,  Live  according  to  the  rules  laid  down  in  our  Sav- 
iour's Sermon  on  the  Mount.    St.  Matt,  v.,  vi.,  vii. 


262  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

may  have  a  deep  gust  of  the  world,  know  what 
it  is,  what  it  can  afford,  and  what  it  is  to  have 
been  a  man.  Such  a  latitude  of  years  may 
hold  a  considerable  corner  in  the  general  map 
of  time  ;  and  a  man  may  have  a  curt  epitome  of 
the  whole  course  thereof  in  the  days  of  his  own 
life  ;  may  clearly  see  he  hath  but  acted  over  his 
forefathers,  what  it  was  to  live  in  ages  past,  and 
what  living  will  be  in  all  ages  to  come. 

He  is  like  to  be  the  best  judge  of  time  who 
hath  lived  to  see  about  the  sixtieth  part  thereof. 
Persons  of  short  times  may  know  what  it  is  to 
live,  but  not  the  life  of  man,  who,  having  little 
behind  them,  are  but  Januses  of  one  face,  and 
know  not  singularities  enough  to  raise  axioms 
of  this  world :  but  such  a  compass  of  years  will 
show  new  examples  of  old  things,  parallelisms 
of  occurrences  through  the  whole  course  of 
time,  and  nothing  be  monstrous  unto  him,  who 
may  in  that  time  understand  not  only  the  va- 
rieties of  men,  but  the  variation  of  himself,  and 
how  many  men  he  hath  been  in  that  extent  of 
time. 

He  may  have  a  close  apprehension  what  it 
is  to  be  forgotten,  while  he  hath  lived  to  find 
none  who  could  remember  his  father,  or  scarce 
the  friends  of  his  youth ;  and  may  sensibly  see 
with  what  a  face  in  no  long;  time  oblivion  will 
look  upon  himself.     His  progeny  may  never  be 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  263 

his  posterity ;  lie  may  go  out  of  the  world  less 
related  than  he  came  into  it;  and,  considering 
the  frequent  mortality  in  friends  and  relations, 
in  such  a  term  of  time,  he  may  pass  away  divers 
years  in  sorrow  and  Mack  habits,  and  leave  none 
to  mourn  for  himself;  orbity  may  be  his  inher- 
itance, and  riches  his  repentance. 

In  such  a  thread  of  time,  and  long  observa- 
tion of  men,  he  may  acquire  a  physiognomi- 
cal intuitive  knowledge ;  judge  the  interiors  by 
the  outside,  and  raise  conjectures  at  first  sight ; 
and  knowing  what  men  have  been,  what  they 
are,  what  children  probably  will  be,  may  in 
the  present  age  behold  a  good  part  and  the 
temper  of  the  next;  and  since  so  many  live 
by  the  rules  of  constitution,  and  so  few  over- 
come their  temperamental  inclinations,  make  no 
improbable  predictions. 

Such  a  portion  of  time  will  afford  a  large 
prospect  backward,  and  authentic  reflection 
show  how  far  he  hath  performed  the  great  in- 
tention of  his  being,  in  the  honour  of  his  Maker ; 
whether  he  hath  made  good  the  principles  of 
his  nature,  and  what  he  was  made  to  be ;  what 
characteristic  and  special  mark  he  hath  left, 
to  be  observable  in  his  generation ;  whether 
he  hath  lived  to  purpose  or  in  vain ;  and  what 
he  hath  added,  acted,  or  performed,  that  might 
considerably  speak  him  a  man. 


264  CHRISTIAN   MORALS. 

Eccies.  xiL  In  sucli  an  age,  delights  will  be  undelightful, 
and  pleasures  grow  stale  unto  him  ;  antiquated 
theorems  will  revive,  and  Solomon's  maxims 
be  demonstrations  unto  him ;  hopes  or  presump- 
tions be  over,  and  despair  grow  up  of  any  satis- 
faction below.  And  having  been  long  tossed 
in  the  ocean  of  this  world,  he  will  by  that  time 
feel  the  in-draught  of  another,  unto  which  this 
seems  but  preparatory  and  without  it  of  no 
high  value.  He  will  experimentally  find  the 
emptiness  of  all  things,  and  the  nothing  of 
what  is  past ;  and  wisely  grounding  upon  true 
Christian  expectations,  finding  so  much  past, 
will  wholly  fix  upon  what  is  to  come.  He  will 
long  for  perpetuity,  and  live  as  though  he  made 
haste  to  be  happy.  The  last  may  prove  the 
prime  part  of  his  life,  and  those  his  best  days 
which  he  lived  nearest  heaven. 

XXIII.  Live  happy  in  the  Elysium  of  a 
virtuously  composed  mind,  and  let  intellectual 
contents  exceed  the  delights  wherein  mere  pleas- 
urists  place  their  paradise.  Bear  not  too  slack 
reins  upon  pleasure,  nor  let  complexion  or  conta- 
gion betray  thee  unto  the  exorbitancy  of  delight. 
Make  pleasure  thy  recreation  or  intermissive 
relaxation,  not  thy  Diana,  life,  and  profession. 
Voluptuousness  is  as  insatiable  as  covetousness. 
Tranquillity  is  better  than  jollity,  and  to  appease 
pain  than  to  invent   pleasure.     Our  hard  en- 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  265 

trance  into  the  world,  our  miserable  going  out 
of  it,  our  sicknesses,  disturbances,  and  sad  ren- 
counters in  it,  do  clamorously  tell  us  we  came 
not  into  the  world  to  run  a  race  of  delight, 
but  to  perform  the  sober  acts  and  serious  pur- 
poses of  man ;  which  to  omit  were  foully  to 
miscarry  in  the  advantage  of  humanity,  to  play 
away  an  uniterable  life,  and  to  have  lived  in 
vain.  Forget  not  the  capital  end,  and  frustrate 
not  the  opportunity  of  once  living.  Dream 
not  of  any  kind  of  metempsychosis  or  trans- 
animation, but  into  thine  own  body,  and  that 
after  a  long  time ;  and  then  also  unto  wail  or 
bliss,  according  to  thy  first  and  fundamental 
life.  Upon  a  curricle  in  this  world  depends  a 
long  course  of  the  next,  and  upon  a  narrow 
scene  here  an  endless  expansion  hereafter.  In 
vain  some  think  to  have  an  end  of  their  beings 
with  their  lives.  Things  cannot  get  out  of  their 
natures,  or  be,  or  not  be,  in  despite  of  their 
constitutions.  Rational  existences  in  heaven 
perish  not  at  all,  and  but  partially  on  earth : 
that  which  is  thus  once,  will  in  some  way  be 
always :  the  first  living  human  soul  is  still  alive, 
and  all  Adam  hath  found  no  period. 

XXIV.   Since  the  stars  of  heaven  do  differ  1  Cor-  xv* 

41. 

in  glory;  since  it  hath  pleased  the  Almighty 
hand  to  honour  the  north  pole  with  lights  above 
the  south ;  since  there  are  some  stars  so  bright 


266  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

that  they  can  hardly  be  looked  upon,  some  so 
dim  that  they  can  scarcely  be  seen,  and  vast 
numbers  not  to  be  seen  at  all  even  by  artificial 
eyes  ;  read  thou  the  earth  in  heaven,  and  things 
below  from  above.  Look  contentedly  upon  the 
scattered  difference  of  things,  and  expect  not 
equality  in  lustre,  dignity,  or  perfection,  in  re- 
gions or  persons  below  ;  where  numerous  num- 
bers must  be  content  to  stand  like  lacteous  or 
nebulous  stars,  little  taken  notice  of,  or  dim  in 
their  generations.  All  which  may  be  content- 
edly allowable  in  the  affairs  and  ends  of  this 
world,  and  in  suspension  unto  what  will  be  in 
the  order  of  things  hereafter,  and  the  new  sys- 
tem of  mankind  which  will  be  in  the  world  to 

st.  Matt,  come  ;  when  the  last  may  be  the  first,  and  the 
first   the   last  ;   when    Lazarus   may   sit   above 

st.  Matt.  Caesar,  and  the  just  obscure  on  earth  shall 
shine  like  the  sun  in  heaven ;  when  persona- 
tions shall  cease,  and  histrionism  of  happiness 
be  over ;  when  reality  shall  rule,  and  all  shall 
be  as  they  shall  be  forever. 

XXV.  When  the  Stoic  said  that  life  would 
not  be  accepted  if  it  were  offered  unto  such 
as  knew  it,*  he  spoke  too  meanly  of  that  state 
of  being  which  placeth  us  in  the  form  of  men. 
It  more  depreciates  the  value  of  this  life,  that 
men  would  not  live  it  over  again ;  for  although 

*  Vitam  nemo  acciperet,  si  dareiur  scientibus.  —  Seneca. 


De  Senec- 
tute,  xxiii. 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  267 

they  would  still  live  on,  yet  few  or  none  can 
endure  to  think  of  being  twice  the  same  men 
upon  earth,  and  some  had  rather  never  have 
lived,  than  to  tread  over  their  days  once  more. 
Cicero  in  a  prosperous  state  had  not  the  pa- 
tience to  think  of  beginning  in  a  cradle  again. 
Job  would  not  only  curse  the  day  of  his  nativity,  Job  m. 
but  also  of  his  renascency,  if  he  were  to  act 
over  his  disasters  and  the  miseries  of  the  dung- 
hill. But  the  greatest  underweening  of  this 
life  is  to  undervalue  that  unto  which  this  is 
but  exordial,  or  a  passage  leading  unto  it.  The 
great  advantage  of  this  mean  life  is  thereby  to 
stand  in  a  capacity  of  a  better ;  for  the  colonies 
of  heaven  must  be  drawn  from  earth,  and  the 
sons  of  the  first  Adam  are  only  heirs  unto  the 
second.  Thus  Adam  came  into  this  world  with 
the  power  also  of  another ;  not  only  to  replen- 
ish the  earth,  but  the  everlasting  mansions  of 
heaven.     Where  we  were  when  the  foundations  Jobxxxviii. 

4-7- 

of  the  earth  were  laid,  when  the  morning  stars 
sans  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy,  He  must  answer  who  asked  it ;  who 
understands  entities  of  preordination,  and  beings 
yet  unbeing  ;  who  hath  in  his  intellect  the  ideal 
existences  of  things,  and  entities  before  their 
extances.  Though  it  looks  but  like  an  imagi- 
nary kind  of  existency,  to  be  before  we  are ; 
yet  since  we  are  under  the  decree  or  prescience 


268  CHRISTIAN    MORALS. 

of  a  sure  and  omnipotent  power,  it  may  be 
somewhat  more  than  a  nonentity  to  be  in  that 

Cf.  Ps.  . 

cxLdx.       mind,  unto  which  all  things  are  present. 

XXVI.  If  the  end  of  the  world  shall  have 
the  same  foregoing  signs  as  the  period  of  em- 
pires, states,  and  dominions  in  it,  that  is,  cor- 
ruption of  manners,  inhuman  degenerations,  and 
deluge  of  iniquities ;  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
that  final  time  be  so  far  off,  of  whose  day  and 
hour  there  can  be  no  prescience.  But  while 
all  men  doubt,  and  none  can  determine  how 
long  the  world  shall  last,  some  may  wonder 
that  it  hath  spun  out  so  long  and  unto  our  days. 
For  if  the  Almighty  had  not  determined  a  fixed 
duration  unto  it,  according  to  his  mighty  and 
merciful  designments  in  it;  if  he  had  not  said 

jobxxxviii.  unto  ^  ^  }ie   ^id  ^fo  a  part  0f  j^  hitherto 

shalt  thou  go  and  no  further;  if  we  consider 
the  incessant  and  cutting  provocations  from  the 
earth;  it  is  not  without  amazement,  how  his 
patience  hath  permitted  so  long  a  continuance 
unto  it ;  how  he,  who  cursed  the  earth  in  the 
first  days  of  the  first  man,  and  drowned  it  in 
the  tenth  generation  after,  should  thus  lastingly 
contend  with  flesh,  and  yet  defer  the  last  flames. 
For  since  he  is  sharply  provoked  every  moment, 
yet  punisheth  to  pardon,  and  forgives  to  forgive 
again ;  what  patience  could  be  content  to  act 
over  such  vicissitudes,  or  accept  of  repentances 


CHRISTIAN    MORALS.  269 

which  must  have  after-penitences,  His  goodness 
can  only  tell  us.  And  surely  if  the  patience 
of  Heaven  were  not  proportionable  unto  the 
provocations  from  earth,  there  needed  an  in- 
tercessor not  only  for  the  sins,  but  the  duration 
of  this  world,  and  to  lead  it  up  unto  the  present 
computation.  Without  such  a  merciful  longa- 
nimity, the  heavens  would  never  be  so  aged  Ps-cii-23> 
as  to  grow  old  like  a  garment.  It  were  in  vain 
to  infer  from  the  doctrine  of  the  sphere,  that 
the  time  might  come,  when  Capella,  a  noble 
northern  star,  would  have  its  motion  in  the 
equator ;  that  the  northern  zodiacal  signs  would 
at  length  be  the  southern,  the  southern  the 
northern,  and  Capricorn  become  our  Cancer. 
However  therefore  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator 
hath  ordered  the  duration  of  the  world,  yet 
since  the  end  thereof  brings  the  accomplishment 
of  our  happiness,  since  some  would  be  content 
that  it  should  have  no  end,  since  evil  men  and 
spirits  do  fear  it  may  be  too  short,  since  good 
men  hope  it  may  not  be  too  long;  the  prayer 
of  the  saints  under  the  altar  will  be  the  sup-  Rev- Ti- 

9  10. 

plication  of  the  righteous  world,  that  his  mercy 
would  abridge  their  languishing  expectation,  and 
hasten  the  accomplishment  of  their  happy  state 
to  come. 

XXVII.  Though  good  men  are  often  taken  is.  ml  i. 
away  from  the  evil  to  come ;  though  some  in 


270  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

evil  days  have  been  glad  that  they  were  old, 
nor  long  to  behold  the  iniquities  of  a  wicked 
world,  or  judgments  threatened  by  them ;  yet 
is  it  no  small  satisfaction  unto  honest  minds 
to  leave  the  world  in  virtuous  well-tempered 
times,  under  a  prospect  of  good  to  come,  and 
continuation  of  worthy  ways  acceptable  unto 
God  and  man.  Men  who  die  in  deplorable 
days,  which  they  regretfully  behold,  have  not 
their  eyes  closed  with  the  like  content ;  while 
they  cannot  avoid  the  thoughts  of  proceeding 
or  growing  enormities,  displeasing  unto  that 
Spirit  unto  whom  they  are  then  going,  whose 
honour  they  desire  in  all  times  and  throughout 
all  generations.  If  Lucifer  could  be  freed  from 
his  dismal  place,  he  would  little  care  though 
the  rest  were  left  behind.  Too  many  there 
may  be  of  Nero's  mind,  who,  if  their  own  turn 
were  served,  would  not  regard  what  became 
cf.  Rei.  of  others  ;  and,  when  they  die  themselves,  care 
n^Vp  not  if  all  perish.  But  good  men's  wishes  ex- 
tend beyond  their  lives,  for  the  happiness  of 
times  to  come,  and  never  to  be  known  unto 
them.  And,  therefore,  while  so  many  question 
prayers  for  the  dead,  they  charitably  pray  for 
those  who  are  not  yet  alive ;  they  are  not  so 
enviously  ambitious  to  go  to  heaven  by  them- 
selves ;  they  cannot  but  humbly  wish  that  the 
xii.32.     little  flock  might  be  greater,  the  narrow  gate 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS.  271 

wider,  and  that,  as  many  are  called,  so  not  a  St-Matt 

^  xxii.  14. 

few  might  be  chosen. 

XXVIII.  That  a  greater  number  of  angels 
remained  in  heaven  than  fell  from  it,  the  school- 
men will  tell  us ;  that  the  number  of  blessed 
souls  will  not  come  short  of  that  vast  number 
of  fallen  spirits,  we  have  the  favourable  calcu- 
lation of  others.  What  age  or  century  hath 
sent  most  souls  unto  heaven,  He  can  tell  who 
vouchsafe th  that  honour  unto  them.  Though 
the  number  of  the  blessed  must  be  complete 
before  the  world  can  pass  away ;  yet  since  the 
world  itself  seems  in  the  wane,  and  we  have 
no  such  comfortable  prognostics  of  latter  times ; 
since  a  greater  part  of  time  is  spun  than  is  to 
come,  and  the  blessed  roll  already  much  replen- 
ished ;  happy  are  those  pieties,  which  solicitous- 
ly look  about,  and  hasten  to  make  one  of  that 
already  much  filled  and  abbreviated  list  to  come. 

XXIX.  Think  not  thy  time  short  in  this 
world,  since  the  world  itself  is  not  long.  The 
created  world  is  but  a  small  parenthesis  in 
eternity ;  and  a  short  interposition,  for  a  time, 
between  such  a  state  of  duration  as  was  before 
it  and  may  be  after  it.  And  if  we  should  allow 
of  the  old  tradition,  that  the  world  should  last 
six  thousand  years,  it  could  scarce  have  the 
name  of  old,  since  the  first  man  lived  near  a 

sixth  part  thereof,  and  seven  Methuselahs  would  G«n- T- 5' 


272  CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 

exceed  its  whole  duration.  However,  to  pal- 
liate the  shortness  of  our  lives,  and  somewhat 
to  compensate  our  brief  term  in  this  world,  it 
is  good  to  know  as  much  as  we  can  of  it ;  and 
also,  so  far  as  possibly  in  us  lieth,  to  hold  such 
a  theory  of  times  past,  as  though  we  had  seen 
the  same.  He  who  hath  thus  considered  the 
world,  as  also  how  therein  things  long  past  have 
been  answered  by  things  present ;  how  matters  in 
one  age  have  been  acted  over  in  another ;  and 

Bed.  i.  9,  j^y  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  ;  may 
conceive  himself  in  some  manner  to  have  lived 
from  the  beginning,  and  to  be  as  old  as  the 
world ;  and  if  he  should  still  live  on,  it  would 
be  but  the  same  thing. 

XXX.  Lastly ;  if  length  of  days  be  thy  por- 

iior.  ep.  i.  tion,  make  it  not  thy  expectation.  Reckon  not 
upon  long  life:  think  every  day  the  last,  and 
live  always  beyond  thy  account.  He  that  so 
often  surviveth  his  expectation  lives  many  lives, 
and  will  scarce  complain  of  the  shortness  of  his 
days.  Time  past  is  gone  like  a  shadow ;  make 
time  to  come  present.  Approximate  thy  latter 
times  by  present  apprehensions  of  them :  be 
like  a  neighbour  unto  the  grave,  and  think 
there  is  but  little  to  come.  And  since  there 
is  something  of  us  that  will  still  live  on,  join 
both  lives  together,  and  live  in  one  but  for  the 
other.     He  who  thus  ordereth  the  purposes  of 


CHRISTIAN  MORALS. 


273 


this  life,  will  never  be  far  from  the  next ;  and 
is  in  some  manner  already  in  it,  by  a  happy  con- 
formity and  close  apprehension  of  it.  And  if, 
as  we  have  elsewhere  declared,  any  have  been  Tn  his  Uy~ 

^  driotaphia, 

so  happy  as  personally  to  understand  Christian  orum- 
annihilation,  ecstasy,  exolution,  transformation, 
the  kiss  of  the  spouse,  and  ingression  into  the  di- 
vine shadow,  according  to  mystical  theology,  they 
have  already  had  a  handsome  anticipation 
of  heaven,  the  world  is  in  a  man- 
ner over,  and  the  earth 
in  ashes  unto 
them. 


Hydriotaphia. 


Urn-Burial  ;   or,  a  Discourse  of  the 

Sepulchral  Urns  lately  found 

in    Norfolk. 


TO    MY 
WORTHY   AND    HONOURED    FRIEND, 

THOMAS     LE     GROS, 

OF    CROSTWICK,    ESQ. 


HEN  the  funeral  pyre  was  out,  and 
the  last  valediction  over,  men  took 
a  lasting  adieu  of  their  interred 
friends,  little  expecting  the  curi- 
osity of  future  ages  should  comment  upon  their 
ashes ;  and  having  no  old  experience  of  the 
duration  of  their  relics,  held  no  opinion  of  such 
after-considerations. 

But  who  knows  the  fate  of  his  bones,  or  how 
often  he  is  to  be  buried  ?  Who  hath  the  oracle 
of  his  ashes,  or  whither  they  are  to  be  scat- 
tered ?  The  relics  of  many  lie,  like  the  ruins 
of  Pompey's,*  in  all  parts  of  the  earth  ;  and 
these   may   seem   to   have   wandered   far,   when 

*  "  Pompeios  juvenes  Asia  atque  Europa,  sed  ipsum  terra  tegit 
Libyae." 


278  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

they    arrive    at    your    hands,    who,    in   a    direct 
and  meridian   travel,  have   but  a  few    miles  of 
known  earth  between  yourself  and  the  pole.* 
Brought        That  the   bones  of  Theseus   should  be  seen 

back  by  .         .  . 

cimon.     again    in    Athens,    was   not    beyond    conjecture 
Plutarch.  ancj  hopeful  expectation  ;    but  that  these  should 
arise  so  opportunely  to  serve  yourself,  was  a  hit 
of  fate  and  honour  beyond  prediction. 

We  cannot  but  wish  these  urns  might  have 
the  effect  of  theatrical  vessels,  and  great  Hip- 
podrome urns  in  Rome,f  to  resound  the  accla- 
mations and  honour  due  unto  you.  But  these 
are  sad  and  sepulchral  pitchers,  which  have  no 
joyful  voices,  silently  expressing  old  mortality, 
the  ruins  of  forgotten  times,  and  can  only  speak 
with  life,  how  long  in  this  corruptible  frame 
some  parts  may  be  uncorrupted,  yet  able  to  out- 
last bones  long  unborn,  and  noblest  pile  among 
us. 

We  present  not  these  as  any  strange  sight  or 
spectacle  unknown  to  your  eyes,  who  have  be- 
held the  best  of  urns  and  noblest  variety  of 
ashes  ;  who  are  yourself  no  slender  master  of 
antiquities,  and  can  daily  command  the  view  of 
so   many  imperial   faces  ;  %    which    raiseth   your 

*  Little  directly  but  sea  between  your  house  and  Greenland. 

t  The  great  urns  in  the  Hippodrome  at  Rome,  conceived  to  re- 
sound the  voices  of  the  people  at  their  shows. 

%  Worthily  possessed  by  that  true  gentleman,  Sir  Horatio 
Townshend,  my  honoured  friend. 


DEDICATION.  279 

thoughts  unto  old  things  and  consideration  of 
times  before  you,  when  even  living  men  were 
antiquities  ;  when  the  living  might  exceed  the 
dead,  and  to  depart  this  world  could  not  be 
properly  said  to  go  unto  the  greater  number ;  * 
and  so  run  up  your  thoughts  upon  the  ancient 
of  days,  the  antiquary's  truest  object,  unto  whom 
the  eldest  parcels  are  young,  and  earth  itself  an 
infant,  and  without  Egyptian  account  makes  but  which 

11  .  i  j  makes  the 

small  noise  in  thousands.  world  so 

We  were  hinted  by  the  occasion,  not  catched  many  years 

•  riii*  •  J       old> 

the  opportunity  to  write  of  old  things,  or  intrude 
upon  the  antiquary.  We  are  coldly  drawn  unto 
discourses  of  antiquities,  who  have  scarce  time 
before  us  to  comprehend  new  things,  or  make 
out  learned  novelties.  But  seeing  they  arose  as 
they  lay,  almost  in  silence  among  us,  at  least  in 
short  account  suddenly  passed  over,  we  were 
very  unwilling  they  should  die  again  and  be 
buried  twice  among  us. 

Besides,  to  preserve  the  living,  and  make  the 
dead  to  live,  to  keep  men  out  of  their  urns,  and 
discourse  of  human  fragments  in  them,  is  not 
impertinent  unto  our  profession,  whose  study  is 
life  and  death,  who  daily  behold  examples  of 
mortality,  and  of  all  men  least  need  artificial 
mementos  or  coffins  by  our  bed-side  to  mind 
us  of  our  graves. 

*  Abiit  adplures. 


280  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

'T  is  time  to  observe  occurrences,  and  let 
nothing  remarkable  escape  us.  The  supinity 
of  elder  days  hath  left  so  much  in  silence,  or 
time  hath  so  martyred  the  records,  that  the  most 
industrious  heads  do  find  no  easy  work  to  erect 
a  new  Britannia.* 

'T  is  opportune  to  look  back  upon  old  times 
and  contemplate  our  forefathers.  Great  exam- 
ples grow  thin,  and  to  be  fetched  from  the  passed 
world.  Simplicity  flies  away,  and  iniquity  comes 
at  long  strides  upon  us.  We  have  enough  to  do 
to  make  up  ourselves  from  present  and  passed 
times,  and  the  whole  stage  of  things  scarce 
serveth  for  our  instruction.  A  complete  piece 
of  virtue  must  be  made  up  from  the  centos  of 
all  ages,  as  all  the  beauties  of  Greece  could 
make  but  one  handsome  Venus, 
in  the  time       When  the  bones  of  King  Arthur  were   dig- 

of  Henry  . 

the  Second,  ged  up,  the  old  race  might  think  they  beheld 
Cambden.  therein  some  originals  of  themselves.  Unto 
these  of  our  urns  none  here  can  pretend  rela- 
tion, and  can  only  behold  the  relics  of  those 
persons,  who  in  their  life  giving  the  laws 
unto  their  predecessors,  after  long  obscurity, 
now  lie  at  their  mercies.  But  remembering  the 
early  civility  they  brought  upon  these  countries, 
and  forgetting   long-passed   mischiefs,   we   mer- 

*  Wherein  Mr.  Dugdale  hath  excellently  well  endeavoured. 


DEDICATION.  281 

cifully  preserve  their  bones,  and  insult  not  over 
their   ashes. 

In  the  offer  of  these  antiquities,  we  drive  not 
at  ancient  families,  so  long  outlasted  by  them  ; 
we  are  far  from  erecting  your  worth  upon  the 
pillars  of  your  forefathers,  whose  merits  you 
illustrate.  We  honor  your  old  virtues,  con- 
formable unto  times  before  you,  which  are  the 
noblest  armoury.  And  having  long  experience 
of  your  friendly  conversation,  void  of  empty 
formality,  full  of  freedom,  constant  and  gener- 
ous honesty,  I  look  upon  you  as  a  gem  of  the 
old  rock,*  and  must  profess  myself,  even  to  urn 
and  ashes, 

Your  ever  faithful  friend, 

and  servant, 

Thomas  Browne. 

Norwich,  May  i,  1658. 

*  Adamas  de  rupe  veteri  prcestantissimus. 


Hydctotaphia. 


CHAPTER    I 


<N  the  deep  discovery  of  the  subter- 
ranean world,  a  shallow  part  would 
[  satisfy  some  inquirers ;  who,  if  two 
K  or  three  yards  were  open  about  the 
surface,  would  not  care  to  rake  the  bowels  of 
Potosi,  and  regions  towards  the  centre.  Nature  The  rich 
hath  furnished  one  part  of  the  earth,  and  man  of  Peru. 
another.  The  treasures  of  time  lie  high,  in 
urns,  coins,  and  monuments,  scarce  below  the 
roots  of  some  vegetables.  Time  hath  endless 
rarities,  and  shows  of  all  varieties ;  which  re- 
veals old  things  in  heaven,  makes  new  discover- 
ies in  earth,  and  even  earth  itself  a  discovery. 
That  great  antiquity,  America,  lay  buried  for  a 
thousand  years ;  and  a  large  part  of  the  earth 
is  still  in  the  urn  unto  us. 

Though  if  Adam  were  made  out  of  an  ex- 


284  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

tract  of  the  earth,  all  parts  might  challenge  a 
restitution  ;  yet  few  have  returned  their  bones 
far  lower  than  they  might  receive  them ;  not 
affecting  the  graves  of  giants,  under  hilly  and 
heavy  coverings,  but,  content  with  less  than 
their  own  depth,  have  wished  their  bones  might 
sutibi      Y\q    soft,    and   the   earth   be   light   upon  them. 

terra  levis.  ,  °  L 

Even  such  as  hope  to  rise  again  would  not  be 
content  with  central  interment,  or  so  desper- 
ately to  place  their  relics  as  to  lie  beyond  dis- 
covery and  in  no  way  to  be  seen  again ;  which 
happy  contrivance  hath  made  communication 
with  our  forefathers,  and  left  unto  our  view 
some  parts  which  they  never  beheld  themselves. 

Though  earth  hath  engrossed  the  name,  yet 
w^ater  hath  proved  the  smartest  grave,  which  in 
forty  days  swallowed  almost  mankind  and  the 
living  creation,  fishes  not  wholly  escaping,  ex- 
cept the  salt  ocean  were  handsomely  contem- 
pered  by  a  mixture  of  the  fresh  element. 

Many  have  taken  voluminous  pains  to  deter- 
mine the  state  of  the  soul  upon  disunion ;  but 
men  have  been  most  fantastical  in  the  singu- 
lar contrivances  of  their  corporal  dissolution  ; 
whilst  the  soberest  nations  have  rested  in  two 
ways,  of  simple  inhumation  and  burning. 

That  carnal  interment  or  burying  was  of  the 
elder  date,  the  old  examples  of  Abraham  and 
the   patriarchs  are  sufficient  to  illustrate,  and 


URN-BURIAL.  285 

were  without  competition,  if  it  could  be  made 
out  that  Adam  was  buried  near  Damascus,  or 
Mount  Calvary,  according  to  some  tradition. 
God  himself,  that  buried  but  one,  was  pleased 
to  make  choice  of  this  way,  collectible  from 
Scripture  expression  and  the  hot  contest  be- 
tween Satan  and  the  Archangel  about  discover- 
ing the  body  of  Moses.  But  the  practice  of 
burning  was  also  of  great  antiquity,  and  of  no 
slender  extent.  For  (not  to  derive  the  same 
from  Hercules)  noble  descriptions  there  are 
hereof  in  the  Grecian  funerals  of  Homer;  in 
the  formal  obsequies  of  Patroclus  and  Achilles, 
and  somewhat  elder  in  the  Theban  war,  and 
solemn  combustion  of  Meneceus  and  Arche- 
morus,  contemporary  unto  Jair,  the  eighth  judge 
of  Israel ;  confirmable  also  among  the  Trojans 
from  the  funeral  pyre  of  Hector,  burnt  before 
the  gates  of  Troy,  and  the  burning  of  Pen- 
thesilea,  the  Amazonian  queen,  and  long  con- 
tinuance of  that  practice  in  the  inward  coun- 
tries of  Asia ;  while  as  low  as  the  reign  of 
Julian,  we  find  that  the  king  of  Chionia  burnt  Gumbrates, 
the  body  of  his  son,  and  interred  the  ashes  in  chion°ia,a 
a  silver  urn.  country 

mi  •  i     i        i  n  nearPersia. 

Ine  same   practice  extended   also  far  west, 
and,  besides  Herulians,  Getes,  and  Thracians, 
was  in  use  with  most  of  the  Celtae,  Sarmatians,       £ 
Germans,  Gauls,  Danes,  Swedes,  Norwegians, 


/ 


286  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

not  to  omit  some  use  thereof  among  Cartha- 
ginians and  Americans  ;  of  greater  antiquity 
among  the  Romans  than  most  opinion,  or  Pliny 
seems  to  allow.  For  (besides  the  old  table 
laws  of  burning  or  burying  within  the  city,* 
of  making  the  funeral  fire  with  planed  wood, 
or  quenching  the  fire  with  wine)  Manlius,  the 
consul,  burnt  the  body  of  his  son.  Numa,  by 
special  clause  of  his  will,  was  not  burnt,  but 
buried;  and  Remus  was  solemnly  buried,  ac- 
cording to  the  description  of  Ovid.f 

Cornelius  Sylla  was  not  the  first  whose  body 
was  burned  in  Rome,  but  of  the  Cornelian 
family,  which  being  indifferently,  not  frequent- 
ly, used  before,  from  that  time  spread,  and  be- 
came the  prevalent  practice ;  not  totally  pur- 
sued in  the  highest  run  of  cremation  ;  for  when 
even  crows  were  funerally  burnt,  Poppaea,  the 
wife  of  Nero,  found  a  peculiar  grave  interment. 
Now  as  all  customs  were  founded  upon  some 
bottom  of  reason,  so  there  wanted  not  grounds 
for  this,  according  to  several  apprehensions  of 
the  most  rational  dissolution.  Some,  being  of 
the  opinion  of  Thales,  that  water  was  the  ori- 
ginal of  all  things,  thought  it  most  equal  to 
submit  unto  the  principle  of  putrefaction,  and 

*  12  Tab.  Pars  i.  de  jure  sacro.  "  Hominem  mortuum  in  urbc 
ne  sepelito,  neve  urito."  (Tom.  2.)  "  Rogum  ascia  ne  polito." 
(Tom.  4.) 

f  "  Ultima  prolato  subdita  flamma  rogo." 


URN-BURIAL.  287 

conclude  in  a  moist  relentment.  Others  con- 
ceived it  most  natural  to  end  in  fire,  as  due 
unto  the  master  principle  in  the  composition, 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  Heraclitus ;  and 
therefore  heaped  up  large  piles,  more  actively 
to  waft  them  toward  that  element,  whereby 
they  also  declined  a  visible  degeneration  into 
worms,  and  left  a  lasting  parcel  of  their  com- 
position. 

Some  apprehended  a  purifying  virtue  in  fire, 
refining  the  grosser  commixture,  and  firing  out 
the  ethereal  particles  so  deeply  immersed  hi  it ; 
and  such  as  by  tradition  or  rational  conjecture 
held  any  hint  of  the  final  pyre  of  all  things,  or 
that  this  element  at  last  must  be  too  hard  for 
all  the  rest,  might  conceive  most  naturally  of 
the  fiery  dissolution.  Others,  pretending  no 
natural  grounds,  politicly  declined  the  malice 
of  enemies  upon  their  buried  bodies ;  which 
consideration  led  Sylla  unto  this  practice,  who 
having  thus  served  the  body  of  Marius,  could 
not  but  fear  a  retaliation  upon  his  own,  enter- 
tained after  in  the  civil  wars  and  revengeful 
contentions  of  Rome. 

But  as  many  nations  embraced,   and  many 
left  it  indifferent,  so  others  too  much  affected 
or  strictly  declined  this  practice.     The  Indian    £ 
Brachmans  seemed  too  great  friends  unto  fire, 
who  burnt  themselves  alive,  and  thought  it  the 


288  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

noblest  way  to  end  their  days  in  fire  ;  according 
to  the  expression  of  the  Indian,  burning  himself 
at  Athens,  in  his  last  words  upon  the  pyre  unto 
the  amazed  spectators,  "  Thus  I  make  myself 
immortal." 

But  the  Chaldeans,  the  great  idolaters  of 
fire,  abhorred  the  burning  of  their  carcasses,  as 
a  pollution  of  that  deity.  The  Persian  Magi 
declined  it  upon  the  like  scruple,  and,  being 
only  solicitous  about  their  bones,  exposed  their 
flesh  to  the  prey  of  birds  and  dogs.  And  the 
/  0  Parsees  now  in  India,  which  expose  their  bod- 
ies unto  vultures,  and  endure  not  so  much  as 
"  feretra  "  or  biers  of  wood,  the  proper  fuel  of 
fire,  are  led  on  with  such  niceties.  But  wheth- 
er the  ancient  Germans,  who  burned  their  dead, 
held  any  such  fear  to  pollute  their  deity  of 
Herthus,  or  the  earth,  we  have  no  authentic 
conjecture. 

The  Egyptians  were  afraid  of  fire,  not  as 
a  deity,  but  a  devouring  element,  mercilessly 
consuming  their  bodies,  and  leaving  too  little 
of  them  ;  and  therefore,  by  precious  embalm- 
ments, depositure  in  dry  earths,  or  handsome 
enclosure  in  glasses,  contrived  the  notablest 
ways  of  integral  conservation ;  and  from  such 
Egyptian  scruples,  imbibed  by  Pythagoras,  it 
may  be  conjectured  that  Numa  and  the  Pytha- 
gorical  sect  first  waved  the  fiery  solution. 


(I 


URN-BURIAL.  289 

The  Scythians,  who  swore  by  wind  and  sword, 
that  is,  by  life  and  death,  were  so  far  from  burn- 
ing their  bodies,  that  they  declined  all  inter- 
ment, and  made  their  graves  in  the  air;  and 
the  Ichthyophagi,  or  fish-eating  nations  about 
Egypt,  affected  the  sea  for  their  grave,  thereby 
declining  visible  corruption,  and  restoring  the 
debt  of  their  bodies.  Whereas  the  old  heroes 
in  Homer  dreaded  nothing  more  than  water 
or  drowning,  probably  upon  the  old  opinion  of 
the  fiery  substance  of  the  soul,  only  extinguish- 
able  by  that  element;  and  therefore  the  poet 
emphatically  implieth  the  total  destruction  in 
this  kind  of  death,*  which  happened  to  Ajax 
Oileus. 

The  old  Balearians  had  a  peculiar  mode,  for 
they  used  great  urns  and  much  wood,  but  no 
fire,  in  their  burials,  while  they  bruised  the  flesh 
and  bones  of  the  dead,  crowded  them  into  urns, 
and  laid  heaps  of  wood  upon  them.  And  the 
Chinese,  without  cremation  or  urnal  interment 
of  their  bodies,  make  use  of  trees  and  much 
burning,  while  they  plant  a  pine-tree  by  their 
grave,  and  burn  great  numbers  of  printed 
draughts  of  slaves  and  horses  over  it,  civilly 
content  with  their  companies  in  effigy,  which 
barbarous  nations  exact  unto  reality. 

Christians   abhorred   this   way  of  obsequies, 

*  Which  Magius  reads  e^anoXaike. 
19 


290  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

and  though  they  sticked  not  to  give  their  bod- 
ies to  be  burnt  in  their  lives,  detested  that 
mode  after  death ;  affecting  rather  a  depositure 
than  absumption,  and  properly  submitting  unto 
the  sentence  of  God,  to  return  not  unto  ashes, 
but  unto  dust  again,  conformable  unto  the  prac- 
tice of  the  patriarchs,  the  interment  of  our  Sav- 
iour, of  Peter,  Paul,  and  the  ancient  martyrs ; 
and  so  far  at  last  declining  promiscuous  inter- 
ment with  Pagans,  that  some  have  suffered  ec- 
clesiastical censures*  for  making  no  scruple 
thereof. 

The  Mussulman  believers  will  never  admit 
this  fiery  resolution;  for  they  hold  a  present 
trial  from  their  black  and  white  angels  in  the 
grave,  which  they  must  have  made  so  hollow 
that  they  may  rise  upon  their  knees. 

The  Jewish  nation,  though  they  entertained 
the  old  way  of  inhumation,  yet  sometimes  ad- 
mitted this  practice.  For  the  men  of  Jabesh 
burnt  the  body  of  Saul ;  and,  by  no  prohibited 
practice,  to  avoid  contagion  or  pollution  in  time 
Amosvi.io.  of  pestilence,  burnt  the  bodies  of  their  friends. 
And  when  they  burnt  not  their  dead  bodies, 
yet  sometimes  used  great  burnings  near  and 
about  them,  deducible  from  the  expressions  con- 
cerning Jehoram,  Zedechiah,  and  the  sumptu- 
ous pyre  of  Asia;  and  were   so   little   averse 

*  Martialis,  the  Bishop.    Cyprian. 


/i" 


URN-BURIAL.  291 

from  Pagan  burning,  that  the  Jew,  lamenting 
the  death  of  Caesar,  their  friend  and  revenger 
on  Pompey,  frequented  the  place  where  his 
body  was  burnt,  for  many  nights  together.   And  Sueton.  in 

*\  .in  i  Vita  Jul. 

as  they  raised  noble  monuments  and  mauso-  caes. 
leums  for  their  own  nation,*  so  they  were  not 
scrupulous  in  erecting  some  for  others,  accord- 
ing to  the  practice  of  Daniel,  who  left  that  last- 
ing sepulchral  pile  in  Ecbatana  for  the  Median 
and  Persian  kings,  f 

But  even  in  times  of  subjection  and  hottest 
use  they  conformed  not  unto  the  Roman  prac- 
tice of  burning ;  whereby  the  prophecy  was  se- 
cured concerning  the  body  of  Christ,  that  it 
should  not  see  corruption,  or  a  bone  should  not  / 
be  broken ;  which  we  believe  was  also  provi- 
dentially prevented,  from  the  soldier's  spear 
and  nails  that  past  by  the  little  bones  both  in 
his  hands  and  feet ;  not  of  ordinary  contrivance, 
that  it  should  not  corrupt  on  the  cross,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Roman  crucifixion,  or  a  hair 
of  his  head  perish,  though  observable  in  Jewish 
customs  to  cut  the  hairs  of  malefactors. 

Nor  in  their   long   cohabitation  with  Egyp- 
tians crept  into  a  custom  of  their  exact  embalm- 

*  As  that  magnificent  sepulchral  monument  erected  by  Simon. 
1  Mace.  xiii.  27. 

t  KaracrKeCacrfia  ZavfUKrims  ncTrotrjfiepov^  whereof  a  Jewish 
priest  had  always  the  custody  unto  Josephus's  days.  Jos.  b.  10, 
Antiq. 


/? 


292  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

ing,  wherein  deeply  slashing  the  muscles,  and 
taking  out  the  brains  and  entrails,  they  had 
broken  the  subject  of  so  entire  a  resurrection, 
nor  fully  answered  the  types  of  Enoch,  Elijah, 
or  Jonah ;  which  yet  to  prevent  or  restore  was 
of  equal  facility  unto  that  rising  power,  able  to 
break  the  fasciations  and  bands  of  death,  to  get 
clear  out  of  the  cerecloth  and  a  hundred  pounds 
of  ointment,  and  out  of  the  sepulchre  before  the 
stone  was  rolled  from  it. 

But  though  they  embraced  not  this  practice 
of  burning,  yet  entertained  they  many  cere- 
monies agreeable  unto  Greek  and  Roman  ob- 
sequies. And  he  that  observeth  their  funeral 
feasts,  their  lamentations  at  the  grave,  their 
music,  and  weeping  mourners ;  how  they  closed 
the  eyes  of  their  friends;  how  they  washed, 
anointed,  and  kissed  the  dead ;  may  easily  con- 
clude these  were  not  mere  Pagan  civilities. 
But  whether  that  mournful  burthen,  and  treble 
calling  out  after  Absalom,*  had  any  reference 
unto  the  last  conclamation  and  triple  valedic- 
tion used  by  other  nations,  we  hold  but  a  wa- 
vering conjecture. 

Civilians  make  sepulture  but  of  the  law  of 
nations ;  others  do  naturally  found  it  and  dis- 
cover it  also  in  animals.  They  that  are  so 
thick-skinned  as  still  to  credit  the  story  of  the 

*  "  0  Absalom,  Absalom,  Absalom !  "    2  Sam.  xviii.  33. 


URN-BURIAL. 


293 


phoenix,  may  say  something  for  animal  burning. 
More  serious  conjectures  find  some  examples 
of  sepulture  in  elephants,  cranes,  the  sepul- 
chral cells  of  pismires,  and  practice  of  bees ; 
which  civil  society  carrieth  out  their  dead,  and 
hath  exequies,  if  not  interments. 


CHAPTER    II. 


HE  solemnities,  ceremonies,  rites  of 
their  cremation  or  interment,  so 
solemnly  delivered  by  authors,  we 
shall  not  disparage  our  reader  to 
repeat.  Only  the  last  and  lasting  part  in  their 
urns,  collected  bones  and  ashes,  we  cannot 
wholly  omit,  or  decline  that  subject,  which 
occasion  lately  presented  in  some  discovered 
among  us. 

In  a  field  of  Old  Walsingham,  not  many 
months  past,  were  digged  up  between  forty  and 
fifty  urns,  deposited  in  a  dry  and  sandy  soil, 
not  a  yard  deep,  not  far  from  one  another ;  not 
all  strictly  of  one  figure,  but  most  answering 
these  described;  some  containing  two  pounds 
of  bones,  distinguishable  in  skulls,  ribs,  jaws, 
thigh-bones,  and  teeth,  with  fresh  impressions 
of  their  combustion ;  besides  the  extraneous 
substances,  like  pieces  of  small  boxes,  or  combs, 
handsomely   wrought,   handles    of   small    brass 


URN-BURIAL.  295 

instruments,  brazen  nippers,  and  in  one  some 
kind  of  opal. 

Near  the  same  plot  of  ground,  for  about  six 
yards'  compass,  were  digged  up  coals  and  incin- 
erated substances,  which  begat  conjecture  that 
this  was  the  Ustrina,  or  place  of  burning  their 
bodies,  or  some  sacrificing  place  unto  the  Manes, 
which  was  properly  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  as  the  arse  and  altars  unto  the  gods 
and  heroes  above  it. 

That  these  were  the  urns  of  Romans,  from 
the  common  custom  and  place  where  they  were 
found,  is  no  obscure  conjecture ;  not  far  from 
a  Roman  garrison,  and  but  five  miles  from 
Brancaster,  set  down  by  ancient  record  under 
the  name  of  Brannodunum  ;  and  where  the 
adjoining  town,  containing  seven  parishes,  in  no 
very  different  sound,  but  Saxon  termination, 
still  retains  the  name  of  Burnham ;  which,  being 
an  early  station,  it  is  not  improbable  the  neigh- 
bour parts  were  filled  with  habitations,  either 
of  Romans  themselves,  or  Britons  Romanized, 
which  observed  the  Roman  customs. 

Nor  is  it  improbable  that  the  Romans  early 
possessed  this  country ;  for,  though  we  meet  not 
with  such  strict  particulars  of  these  parts,  be- 
fore the  new  institution  of  Constantine,  and 
military  charge  of  the  Count  of  the  Saxon  shore, 
and  that  about  the  Saxon  invasions,  the  Dal- 


296  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

matian  horsemen  were  in  the  garrison  of  Bran- 
caster  ;  yet,  in  the  time  of  Claudius,  Vespasian, 
and  Severus,  we  find  no  less  than  three  legions 
dispersed  through  the  province  of  Britain  ;  and, 
as  high  as  the  reign  of  Claudius,  a  great  over- 
throw was  given  unto  the  Iceni,  by  the  Roman 
lieutenant  Ostorius.  Not  long  after,  the  coun- 
try was  so  molested,  that,  in  hope  of  a  better 
state,  Prasutagus  bequeathed  his  kingdom  un- 
to Nero  and  his  daughters;  and  Boadicea,  his 
queen,  fought  the  last  decisive  battle  with  Paul- 
linus.  After  which  time  and  conquest  of  Agri- 
cola,  the  lieutenant  of  Vespasian,  probable  it  is 
they  wholly  possessed  this  country,  ordering  it 
into  garrisons  or  habitations  best  suitable  with 
their  securities  ;  and  so  some  Roman  habitations 
not  improbable  in  these  parts,  as  high  as  the 
time  of  Vespasian,  where  the  Saxons  after  seat- 
ed, in  whose  thin-filled  maps  we  yet  find  the 
name  of  Walsingham.  Now,  if  the  Iceni  were 
but  Gammadims,  Anconians,  or  men  that  lived 
in  an  angle,  wedge,  or  elbow  of  Britain,  accord- 
ing to  the  original  etymology,  this  country  will 
challenge  the  emphatical  appellation,  as  most 
properly  making  the  elbow  or  iken  of  Icenia. 

That  Britain  was  notably  populous,  is  unde- 
niable, from  that  expression  of  Caesar.*     That 

*  "  Hominum  infinita  multitudo  est,  creberrimaquc  jcdificia 
fere  Gallicis  consimilia."  —  Cces.  de  Bello  Gal.,  1.  o. 


URN-BURIAL.  297 

the  Romans  themselves  were  early  in  no  small 
numbers,  seventy  thousand,  with  their  associates, 
slain  by  Boadicea,  affords  a  sure  account.  And 
though  not  many  Roman  habitations  are  now 
known,  yet  some  by  old  works,  rampires,  coins, 
and  urns,  do  testify  their  possessions.  Some 
urns  have  been  found  at  Castor,  some  also  about 
Southcreek,  and,  not  many  years  past,  no  less 
than  ten  in  a  field  at  Buxton,  not  near  any  re- 
corded garrison.  Nor  is  it  strange  to  find  Ro- 
man coins  of  copper  and  silver  among  us,  of 
Vespasian,  Trajan,  Adrian,  Commodus,  Anto- 
ninus, Severus,  &c. ;  but  the  greater  number  of 
Diocletian,  Constantine,  Constans,  Valens,  with 
many  of  Victorinus  Posthumius,  Tetricus,  and 
the  thirty  tyrants  in  the  reign  of  Gallienus ; 
and  some  as  high  as  Adrianus  have  been  found 
about  Thetford,  or  Sitomagus,  mentioned  in  the 
itinerary  of  Antoninus,  as  the  way  from  Venta  or 
Castor  unto  London.  But  the  most  frequent  dis- 
covery is  made  at  the  two  Casters,  by  Norwich 
and  Yarmouth,  at  Burghcastle  and  Brancaster. 

Besides  the  Norman,  Saxon,  and  Danish 
pieces  of  Cuthred,  Canutus,  William,  Matilda, 
and  others,  some  British  coins  of  gold  have  been 
dispersedly  found ;  and  no  small  number  of 
silver  pieces  near  Norwich,  with  a  rude  head 
upon  the  obverse,  and  an  ill-formed  horse  on 
the  reverse,  with  these  inscriptions,  Ic,  Duro,  T., 


298  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

whether  implying  Iceni,  Durotriges,  Tascia  or 
Trinobantes,  we  leave  to  higher  conjecture. 
Vulgar  chronology  will  have  Norwich  castle  as 
old  as  Julius  Caesar ;  but  his  distance  from 
these  parts,  and  its  Gothic  form  of  structure, 
abridgeth  such  antiquity.  The  British  coins 
afford  conjecture  of  early  habitation  in  these 
parts :  though  the  city  of  Norwich  arose  from 
the  ruins  of  Venta,  and,  though  perhaps  not 
without  some  habitation  before,  was  enlarged, 
builded,  and  nominated  by  the  Saxons.  In 
what  bulk  or  populosity  it  stood  in  the  old  East- 
Angle  monarchy,  tradition  and  history  are  si- 
lent. Considerable  it  was  in  the  Danish  erup- 
tions, when  Sueno  burnt  Thetford  and  Norwich, 
and  Ulfketel,  the  governor  thereof,  was  able 
to  make  some  resistance,  and  after  endeavoured 
to  burn  the  Danish  navy. 

How  the  Romans  left  so  many  coins  in  coun- 
tries of  their  conquests  seems  of  hard  resolu- 
tion, except  we  consider  how  they  buried  them 
under  ground,  when,  upon  barbarous  invasions, 
they  were  fain  to  desert  their  habitations  in 
most  part  of  their  empire,  and  the  strictness  of 
their  laws  forbidding  to  transfer  them  to  any 
Plutarch,  other  uses  ;  wherein  the  Spartans  were  singu- 
Lycurgus.  lar>  who,  to  make  their  copper  money  useless, 
contempered  it  with  vinegar.  That  the  Britons 
left  any,  some  wonder,  since  their  money  was 


URN-BURIAL.  299 

iron  and  iron  rings  before  Caesar;  and  those 
of  after  stamp  by  permission,  and  but  small  in 
bulk  and  bigness.  That  so  few  of  the  Saxons 
remain,  neither  need  any  wonder,  because,  over- 
come by  succeeding  conquerors  upon  the  place, 
their  coins  by  degrees  passed  into  other  stamps, 
and  the  marks  of  after  ages. 

Than  the  time  of  these  urns  deposited,  or 
precise  antiquity  of  these  relics,  nothing  is  of 
more  uncertainty ;  for  since  the  lieutenant  of 
Claudius  seems  to  have  made  the  first  progress 
into  these  parts,  since  Boadicea  was  overthrown 
by  the  forces  of  Nero,  and  Agricola  put  a  full 
end  to  these  conquests,  it  is  not  probable  the 
country  was  fully  garrisoned  or  planted  before  ; 
and  therefore,  however  these  urns  might  be  of 
later  date,  it  is  not  likely  they  were  of  higher 
antiquity. 

And  the  succeeding  emperors  desisted  not 
from  their  conquests  in  these  and  other  parts, 
as  testified  by  history  and  medal  inscription  yet 
extant ;  the  province  of  Britain,  in  so  divided 
a  distance  from  Rome,  beholding  the  faces  of 
many  imperial  persons,  and  in  large  account 
no  fewer  than  Caesar,  Claudius,  Britannicus, 
Vespasian,  Titus,  Adrian,  Severus,  Commo- 
dus,  Geta,  and  Caracalla. 

A  great  obscurity  herein,  because  no  medal 
or  emperor's  coin  enclosed,  which  might  denote 


300  IIYDRIOTAPHIA. 

the  date  of  tlieir  interments  ;  —  observable  in 
stowes  many  nrns,  and  found  in  those  of  Spittle- 
London.0  fields,  by  London ;  which  contained  the  coins 
of  Claudius,  Vespasian,  Commodus,  Antoninus, 
attended  with  lacrymatories,  lamps,  bottles  of 
liquor,  and  other  appurtenances  of  affectionate 
superstition,  which  in  these  rural  interments 
were  wanting. 

Some  uncertainty  there  is  from  the  period  or 
term  of  burning,  or  the  cessation  of  that  prac- 
tice. Macrobius  amrmeth  it  was  disused  in 
his  days  ;  but  most  agree,  though  without  au- 
thentic record,  that  it  ceased  with  the  Anto- 
nini,  —  most  safely  to  be  understood  after  the 
reign  of  those  emperors  who  assumed  the  name 
of  Antoninus,  extending  unto  Heliogabalus  ;  — 
not  strictly  after  Marcus  ;  for  about  fifty  years 

later  we  find  the  magnificent  burnino;  and  con- 
es © 

secration  of  Severus ;  and  if  we  so  fix  this  pe- 
riod of  cessation,  these  urns  will  challenge  above 
thirteen  hundred  years. 

But  whether  this  practice  was  only  then  left 
by  emperors  and  great  persons,  or  generally 
about  Rome,  and  not  in  other  provinces,  we 
hold  no  authentic  account.  For  after  Tertul- 
lian,  in  the  days  of  Minucius,  it  was  obviously 
objected  upon  Christians,  that  they  condemned 
the  practice  of  burning.*     And  we  find  a  pas- 

*  "  Execrantur  rogos,  et  damnant  ignium  sepulturara." 


URN-BURIAL.  301 

sage  in  Sidonius,  which  asserteth  that  practice 
in  France  unto  a  lower  account ;  and  perhaps 
not  fully  disused  till  Christianity  was  fully  es- 
tablished, which  gave  the  final  extinction  to 
these  sepulchral  bonfires. 

Whether  they  were  the  bones  of  men,  or 
women,  or  children,  no  authentic  decision  from 
ancient  custom  in  distinct  places  of  burial ; 
although  not  improbably  conjectured,  that  the 
double  sepulture,  or  burying-place  of  Abra- 
ham,* had  in  it  such  intention.  But  from 
exility  of  bones,  thinness  of  skulls,  smallness 
of  teeth,  ribs,  and  thigh-bones,  not  improbable 
that  many  thereof  were  persons  of  minor  age, 
or  women  ;  confirmable  also  from  things  con- 
tained in  them.  In  most  were  found  sub- 
stances resembling  combs,  plates  like  boxes, 
fastened  with  iron  pins,  and  handsomely  over- 
wrought like  the  necks  or  bridges  of  musical 
instruments,  long  brass  plates  overwrought  like 
the  handles  of  neat  implements,  brazen  nip- 
pers to  pull  away  hair,  and  in  one  a  kind  of 
opal  yet  maintaining  a  bluish  color. 

Now  that  they  accustomed  to  burn  or  bury 
with  them  things  wherein  they  excelled,  de- 
lighted, or  which  were  dear  unto  them,  either 
as  farewells  unto  all  pleasure,   or  vain  appre- 

*  Gen.  xxiii.    In  the  cave  of  a  field  called  Hebron,  in  the  land 
of  Canaan. 


302  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

hension  that  they  might  use  them  in  the  other 
world,  is  testified  by  all  antiquity;  —  observa- 
ble from  the  gem  or  beryl  ring  upon  the  finger 
of  Cynthia,  the  mistress  of  Propertius,  when 
after  her  funeral  pyre  her  ghost  appeared  unto 
him  ;  —  and  notably  illustrated  from  the  con- 
tents of  that  Roman  urn  preserved  by  Cardinal 
Farnese,  wherein,  besides  great  number  of  gems 
with  heads  of  gods  and  goddesses,  were  found 
an  ape  of  agate,  a  grasshopper,  an  elephant  of 
amber,  a  crystal  ball,  three  glasses,  two  spoons, 
and  six  nuts  of  crystal.  And  beyond  the  con- 
tent of  urns,  in  the  monument  of  Childeric  the 
First,  and  fourth  king  from  Pharamond,  casu- 
ally discovered  three  years  past  at  Tournay, 
restoring  unto  the  world  much  gold  richly 
adorning  his  sword,  two  hundred  rubies,  many 
hundred  imperial  coins,  three  hundred  golden 
bees,  the  bones  and  horse-shoes  of  his  horse 
interred  with  him,  according  to  the  barbarous 
magnificence  of  those  days  in  their  sepulchral 
obsequies.  Although  if  we  steer  by  the  con- 
jecture of  many,  and  Septuagint  expression, 
some  trace  thereof  may  be  found  even  with 
the  ancient  Hebrews,  not  only  from  the  sepul- 
chral treasure  of  David,  but  the  circumcision 
knives  which  Joshua  also  buried. 

Some  men,  considering  the  contents  of  these 
urns,  lasting  pieces  and  toys  included  in  them, 


URN-BURIAL.  303 

and  the  custom  of  burning  with  many  other 
nations,  might  somewhat  doubt  whether  all  urns 
found  among  us  were  properly  Roman  relics, 
or  some  not  belonging  unto  our  British,  Saxon, 
or  Danish  forefathers. 

Of  the  form  of  burial  among  the  ancient 
Britons,  the  large  discourses  of  Caesar,  Taci- 
tus, and  Strabo  are  silent.  For  the  discovery 
whereof,  with  other  particulars,  we  much  de- 
plore the  loss  of  that  letter  which  Cicero  ex- 
pected or  received  from  his  brother  Quintus, 
as  a  resolution  of  British  customs ;  or  the  ac- 
count which  might  have  been  made  by  Scribo- 
nius  Largus,  the  physician  accompanying  the 
Emperor  Claudius,  who  might  have  also  dis- 
covered that  frugal  bit  of  the  old  Britons,  which 
in  the  bigness  of  a  bean  could  satisfy  their  thirst 
and  hunger. 

But  that  the  Druids  and  ruling  priests  used 
to  burn  and  bury,  is  expressed  by  Pomponius. 
That  Bellinus,  the  brother  of  Brennus,  and  king 
of  the  Britons,  was  burnt,  is  acknowledged  by 
Polydorus,  as  also  by  Amandus  Zierexensis  in 
Historia,  and  Pineda  in  his  Universa  Historia 
(Spanish).  That  they  held  that  practice  in 
Gallia,  Caesar  expressly  delivereth.  Whether 
the  Britons  (probably  descended  from  them,  of 
like  religion,  language,  and  manners)  did  not 
sometimes  make  use  of  burning ;  or  whether  at 


304  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

least  such  as  were  after  civilized  unto  the  Ro- 
man life  and  manners,  conformed  not  unto  this 
practice,  we  have  no  historical  assertion  or  de- 
nial. But  since,  from  the  account  of  Tacitus, 
the  Romans  early  wrought  so  much  civility 
upon  the  British  stock,  that  they  brought  them 
to  build  temples,  to  wear  the  gown,  and  study 
the  Roman  laws  and  language ;  that  they  con- 
formed also  unto  their  religious  rites  and  cus- 
toms in  burials,  seems  no  improbable  conjec- 
ture. 

That  burning  the  dead  was  used  in  Sarmatia 
is  affirmed  by  Gaguinus ;  that  the  Sueons  and 
Gothlanders  used  to  burn  their  princes  and 
great  persons  is  delivered  by  Saxo  and  Olaus ; 
that  this  was  the  old  German  practice,  is  also 
asserted  by  Tacitus.  And  though  we  are  bare 
in  historical  particulars  of  such  obsequies  in  this 
island,  or  that  the  Saxons,  Jutes,  and  Angles 
burnt  their  dead,  yet  came  they  from  parts 
where  it  was  of  ancient  practice ;  the  Germans 
using  it,  from  whom  they  were  descended.  And 
even  in  Jutland  and  Sleswick  in  Anglia  Cym- 
brica,  urns  with  bones  were  found  not  many 
years  before  us. 

But  the  Danish  and  Northern  nations  have 
raised  an  era  or  point  of  compute  from  their 
custom  of  burning  their  dead;  some  deriving 
it  from  Unguinus,  some  from  Frotho  the  Great, 


URN-BURIAL.  305 

who  ordained  by  law  that  princes  and  chief 
commanders  should  be  committed  unto  the  fire, 
though  the  common  sort  had  the  common  grave- 
interment.  So  Starkatterus,  that  old  hero,  was 
burnt;  and  Ringo  royally  burnt  the  body  of 
Harold,  the  king  slam  by  him. 

What  time  this  custom  generally  expired  in 
that  nation,  we  discern  no  assured  period; 
whether  it  ceased  before  Christianity,  or  upon 
their  conversion  by  Ausgurius  the  Gaul,  in  the 
time  of  Ludovicus  Pius,  the  son  of  Charles  the 
Great,  according  to  good  computes  ;  or  whether 
it  might  not  be  used  by  some  persons,  while 
for  a  hundred  and  eighty  years  Paganism 
and  Christianity  were  promiscuously  embraced 
among  them,  there  is  no  assured  conclusion. 
About  which  times  the  Danes  were  busy  in  h 
England,  and  particularly  infested  this  country ; 
where  many  castles  and  strong-holds  were  built 
by  them  or  against  them,  and  great  numbers 
of  names  and  families  still  derived  from  them. 
But  since  this  custom  was  probably  disused  be- 
fore their  invasion  or  conquest,  and  the  Romans 
confessedly  practised  the  same  since  their  pos- 
session of  this  island,  the  most  assured  account 
will  fall  upon  the  Romans,  or  Britons  Roman- 
ized. 

However,  certain  it  is  that  urns,  conceived 
of  no  Roman  original,  are  often  digged  up  both 
20 


306  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

in  Norway  and  Denmark,  handsomely  described 
and  graphically  represented  by  the  learned  phy- 
sician Wormius ;  and  in  some  parts  of  Denmark 
in  no  ordinary  number,  as  stands  delivered  by 
authors  exactly  describing  those  countries.  And 
they  contained  not  only  bones,  but  many  other 
substances  in  them,  as  knives,  pieces  of  iron, 
brass,  and  wood,  and  one  of  Norway  a  brass 
gilded  jews-harp. 

Nor  were  they  confused  or  careless  in  dis- 
posing the  noblest  sort,  while  they  placed  large 
stones  in  circle  about  the  urns  or  bodies  which 
they  interred,  somewhat  answerable  unto  the 
monument  of  Rollrich  stones  in  England,  or 
sepulchral  monument  probably  erected  by  Kol- 
lo,  who  after  conquered  Normandy,  where  it 
is  not  improbable  somewhat  might  be  discov- 
ered. Meanwhile,  to  what  nation  or  person 
belonged  that  large  urn  found  at  Ashbury,  con- 
taining mighty  bones  and  a  buckler ;  what  those 
large  urns  found  at  Little  Massingham ;  or  why 
the  Anglesea  urns  are  placed  with  their  mouths 
downward,  remains  yet  undiscovered. 


CHAPTER    III 


LASTERED  and  whited  sepulchres 
were  anciently  affected  in  cadaver- 
ous and  corruptive  burials  ;  and  the 
rigid  Jews  were  wont  to  garnish  st.  Matt. 
the  sepulchres  of  the  righteous.  Ulysses,  in 
Hecuba,  cared  not  how  meanly  he  lived,  so  he 
might  find  a  noble  tomb  after  death.  Great 
princes  affected  great  monuments ;  and  the  fair 
and  larger  urns  contained  no  vulgar  ashes, 
which  makes  that  disparity  in  those  which 
time  discovereth  among  us.  The  present  urns 
were  not  of  one  capacity ;  the  largest  contain- 
ing above  a  gallon ;  some  not  much  above  half 
that  measure.  Nor  all  of  one  figure,  wherein 
there  is  no  strict  conformity  in  the  same  or 
different  countries  ;  observable  from  those  rep- 
resented by  Casalius,  Bosio,  and  others,  though 
all  found  in  Italy;  while  many  have  handles, 
ears,  and  long  necks,  but  most  imitate  a  cir- 
cular  figure,  in   a   spherical   and   round   com- 


308  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

posure  ;  whether  from  any  mystery,  best  dura- 
tion, or  capacity,  were  but  a  conjecture.  But 
the  common  form  with  necks  was  a  proper 
figure,  making  our  last  bed  like  our  first ;  not 
much  unlike  the  urns  of  our  nativity,  while 
ps. cxxxix.  "we  lay  in  the  nether  part  of  the  earth," 
and  inward  vault  of  our  microcosm.  Many 
urns  are  red,  these  but  of  a  black  color,  some- 
what smooth,  and  dully  sounding,  which  be- 
gat some  doubt  whether  they  were  burnt,  or 
only  baken  in  oven  or  sun,  according  to  the 
ancient  way,  in  many  bricks,  tiles,  pots,  and 
testaceous  works  ;  as  the  word  "  testa  "  is  prop- 
erly to  be  taken,  when  occuring  without  addi- 
tion, and  chiefly  intended  by  Pliny  when  he 
commendeth  bricks  and  tiles  of  two  years  old, 
and  to  make  them  in  the  spring.  Nor  only 
these  concealed  pieces,  but  the  open  magnifi- 
cence of  antiquity,  ran  much  in  the  artifice 
of  clay.  Hereof  the  house  of  Mausolus  was 
built ;  thus  old  Jupiter  stood  in  the  Capitol ; 
and  the  statue  of  Hercules,  made  in  the  reign 
of  Tarquinius  Priscus,  was  extant  in  Pliny's 
days.  And  such  as  declined  burning  or  fu- 
neral urns,  affected  coffins  of  clay,  according 
to  the  mode  of  Pythagoras,  a  way  preferred 
by  Varro.  But  the  spirit  of  great  ones  was 
above  these  circumscriptions,  affecting  copper, 
silver,  gold,  and  porphyry  urns,  wherein  Seve- 


URN-BURIAL.  309 

rus  lay,  after  a  serious  view  and  sentence  on 
that  which  should  contain  him.  Some  of  these 
urns  were  thought  to  have  been  silvered  over 
from  sparklings  in  several  pots,  with  small  tin- 
sel parcels,  uncertain  whether  from  the  earth 
or  the  first  mixture  in  them. 

Among  these  urns  we  could  obtain  no  good 
account  of  their  coverings  ;  only  one  seemed 
arched  over  with  some  kind  of  brick-work. 
Of  those  found  at  Buxton,  some  were  covered 
with  flints ;  some  in  other  parts  with  tiles ; 
those  at  Yarmouth-Caster  were  closed  with 
Roman  bricks  ;  and  some  have  proper  earth- 
en covers  adapted  and  fitted  to  them.  But 
in  the  Homerical  um  of  Patroclus,  whatever 
was  the  solid  tegument,  we  find  the  immediate 
covering  to  be  a  purple  piece  of  silk.  And 
such  as  had  no  covers  might  have  the  earth 
closely  pressed  into  them ;  after  which  dis- 
posure  were  probably  some  of  these,  wherein 
we  found  the  bones  and  ashes  half  mortared 
unto  the  sand  and  sides  of  the  urn,  and  some 
long  roots  of  quich,  or  dog's-grass,  wreathed 
about  the  bones. 

No  lamps,  included  liquors,  lachrymatories,  or 
tear-bottles  attended  these  rural  urns,  either  as 
sacred  unto  the  Manes,  or  passionate  expres- 
sions of —their  surviving  friends ;  while  with 
rich   flames   and    hired   tears   they   solemnized 


310  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

cum      their    obsequies,    and    in    the    most    lamented 

lacrymis  1  <**••• 

posuire.  monuments  made  one  part  of  their  inscrip- 
tions. Some  find  sepulchral  vessels  containing 
liquors  which  time  hath  incrassated  into  jel- 
lies. For  besides  these  lachrymatories,  nota- 
ble lamps,  with  vessels  of  oils  and  aromatical 
liquors,  attended  noble  ossuaries,  and  some  yet 
retaining  a  vinosity  and  spirit  in  them  ;  which 
if  any  have  tasted,  they  have  far  exceeded  the 
palates  of  antiquity ;  liquors  not  to  be  com- 
puted by  years  of  annual  magistrates,  but  by 
great  conjunctions  and  the  fatal  periods  of  king- 
doms.* The  draughts  of  consulary  date  were 
but  crude  unto  these,  and  Opimian  f  wine  but 
in  the  must  unto  them. 

In  sundry  graves  and  sepulchres  we  meet 
with  rings,  coins,  and  chalices.  Ancient  frugal- 
ity was  so  severe,  that  they  allowed  no  gold  to 
attend  the  corpses,  but  only  that  which  served 
to  fasten  their  teeth.  J  Whether  the  opaline 
stone  in  this  urn  were  burnt  upon  the  finger 
of  the  dead,  or  cast  into  the  fire  by  some 
affectionate  friend,  it  will  consist  with  either 
custom.  But  other  incinerable  substances  were 
found  so  fresh,  that  they  could  feel  no  singe 

*  About  500  years.     Plato. 

t  "  Vinum  Opiminianum  annorum  centum."    Petron. 

J  12  TabuL  1.  xi.  dejure  sacro.  "Neve  aurura  addito;  ast  quo 
auro  dentes  vincti  erunt,  imo  cum  illo  sepelire  et  urere,  ne  fraudi 
esto." 


URN-BURIAL.  311 

from  fire.  These  upon  view  were  judged  to 
be  wood  ;  but  sinking  in  water,  and  tried  by 
the  fire,  we  found  them  to  be  bone  or  ivory. 
In  their  hardness  and  yellow  color,  they  most 
resembled  box,  which,  in  old  expressions,  found 
the  epithet*  of  eternal,  and  perhaps,  in  such 
conservatories,  might  have  passed  uncorrupted. 

That  bay-leaves  were  found  green  in  the 
tomb  of  St.  Humbert,  after  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  was  looked  upon  as  miraculous.  Re- 
markable it  was  unto  old  spectators,  that  the 
cypress  of  the  temple  of  Diana  lasted  so  many 
hundred  years.  The  wood  of  the  ark  and  olive 
rod  of  Aaron  were  older  at  the  Captivity.  But 
the  cypress  of  the  ark  of  Noah  was  the  greatest 
vegetable  antiquity,  if  Josephus  were  not  de- 
ceived by  some  fragments  of  it  in  his  days  ;  — 
to  omit  the  moor-logs  and  fir-trees,  found  under 
ground  in  many  parts  of  England ;  the  undated 
ruins  of  winds,  floods,  and  earthquakes ;  and 
which,  in  Flanders,  still  show  from  what  quar- 
ter they  fell,  as  generally  lying  in  a  northeast 
position. 

But  though  we  found  not  these  pieces  to  be 
wood,  according  to  first  apprehension,  yet  we 
missed  not  altogether  of  some  woody  substance ; 
for  the  bones  were  not  so  clearly  picked,  but 
some  coals  were  found  amongst  them ;  —  a  way 

*  Plin.  lib.  xvi.  "  Inter  £v\a  avair?}  numerat  Theophrastus." 


312  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

■ 

to  make  wood  perpetual,  and  a  fit  associate  for 
metal,  whereon  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
great  Ephesian  temple,  and  which  were  made 
the  lasting  tests  of  old  boundaries  and  land- 
marks.  Whilst  we  look  on  these,  we  admire 
not  observations  of  coals  found  fresh  after  four 
hundred  years.  In  a  long  deserted  habitation, 
even  egg-shells  have  been  found  fresh,  not  tend- 
ing to  corruption. 

In  the  monument  of  King  Childeric,  the 
iron  relics  were  found  all  rusty  and  crumbling 
into  pieces.  But  our  little  iron  pins,  which 
fastened  the  ivory  works,  held  well  together, 
and  lost  not  their  magnetical  quality,  though 
wanting  a  tenacious  moisture  for  the  firmer 
union  of  parts.  Although  it  be  hardly  drawn 
into  fusion,  yet  that  metal  soon  submitteth  unto 
rust  and  dissolution.  In  the  brazen  pieces  Ave 
admired  not  the  duration,  but  the  freedom  from 
rust  and  ill  savor  upon  the  hardest  attrition: 
but  now  exposed  unto  the  piercing  atoms  of 
air,  in  the  space  of  a  few  months  they  begin  to 
spot  and  betray  their  green  entrails.  We  conT 
ceive  not  these  urns  to  have  descended  thus 
naked  as  they  appear,  or  to  have  entered  their 
graves  Avithout  the  old  habit  of  floAvers.  The 
urn  of  Philopcemen  Avas  so  laden  Avith  floAvers 
and  ribbons,  that  it  afforded  no  sight  of  itself. 
The  rigid  Lycurgus  allowed  olive  and  myrtle. 


URN-BURIAL.  313 

The  Athenians  might  fairly  except  against  the 
practice  of  Democritus,  to  be  buried  up  in  hon- 
ey ;  as  fearing  to  embezzle  a  great  commodity 
of  their  country,  and  the  best  of  that  kind 
in  Europe.  But  Plato  seemed  too  frugally 
politic,  who  allowed  no  larger  monument  than 
would  contain  four  heroic  verses,  and  designed 
the  most  barren  ground  for  sepulture ;  though 
we  cannot  commend  the  goodness  of  that  se- 
pulchral ground  which  was  set  at  no  higher  rate 
than  the  mean  salary  of  Judas.  Though  the 
earth  had  confounded  the  ashes  of  these  ossua- 
ries, yet  the  bones  were  so  smartly  burnt,  that 
some  thin  plates  of  brass  were  found  half  melt- 
ed among  them ;  whereby  we  apprehend,  they 
were  not  of  the  meanest  carcasses,  perfunctorily 
fired,  as  sometimes  in  military,  and  commonly 
in  pestilence  burnings,  or  after  the  manner 
of  abject  corpses,  huddled  forth  and  carelessly 
burnt,  without  the  Esquiline  Port  at  Rome ; 
which  was  an  affront  continued  upon  Tiberius, 
while  they  but  half  burnt  his  body,  and  in  the 
amphitheatre,  according  to  the  custom  in  notable 
malefactors ;  whereas  Nero  seemed  not  so  much 
to  fear  his  death,  as  that  his  head  should  be  cut 
off,  and  his  body  not  burnt  entire. 

Some,  finding  many  fragments  of  skulls  in 
these  urns,  suspected  a  mixture  of  bones.  In 
none  we  searched  was  there  cause  of  such  con- 


314  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

jecture,  though  sometimes  they  declined  not 
that  practice.  The  ashes  of  Domitian  were 
mingled  with  those  of  Julia,  of  Achilles  with 
those  of  Patroclus.  All  urns  contained  not 
single  ashes.  Without  confused  burnings,  they 
effectually  compounded  their  bones,  passionately 
endeavouring  to  continue  their  living  unions ; 
and  when  distance  of  death  denied  such  con- 
junctions, unsatisfied  affections  conceived  some 
satisfaction  to  be  neighbours  in  the  grave,  to  lie 
urn  by  urn,  and  touch  but  in  their  names.  And 
many  were  so  curious  to  continue  their  living 
relations,  that  they  contrived  large  and  family 
urns,  wherein  the  ashes  of  their  nearest  friends 
and  kindred  might  successively  be  received,  at 
least  some  parcels  thereof,  while  their  collateral 
memorials  lay  in  minor  vessels  about  them. 

Antiquity  held  too  light  thoughts  from  objects 
of  mortality,  while  some  drew  provocatives  of 
mirth  from  anatomies,*  and  jugglers  showed 
tricks  with  skeletons;  when  fiddlers  made  not 
so  pleasant  mirth  as  fencers,  and  men  could  sit 
with  quiet  stomachs  while  hanging  was  played 
before   them.f     Old   considerations   made   few 

*  Sic  erimus  cuncti,  #c.     Ergo,  dum  vivimus,  vivamus. 

t  'Ayxovrjv  iraL£civ.  A  barbarous  pastime  at  feasts,  when 
men  stood  upon  a  rolling  globe,  with  their  necks  in  a  rope,  and  a 
knife  in  their  hands,  ready  to  cut  it  when  the  stone  was  rolled 
away,  wherein  if  they  failed,  they  lost  their  lives,  to  the  laughter 
of  the  spectators.    Athenaeus. 


URN-BURIAL.  315 

mementos  by  skulls  and  bones  upon  their  mon- 
uments. In  the  Egyptian  obelisks  and  hiero- 
glyphical  figures,  it  is  not  easy  to  meet  with 
bones.  The  sepulchral  lamps  speak  nothing 
less  than  sepulture,  and  in  their  literal  draughts 
prove  often  obscene  and  antic  pieces.  Where 
we  find  D.  M.  it  is  obvious  to  meet  with  sacri-  DiisMani- 

bus. 

ficing  "  pateras,"  and  vessels  of  libation,  upon  old 
sepulchral  monuments.  In  the  Jewish  Hypo- 
gaeum  and  subterranean  cell  at  Home  was  little 
observable  beside  the  variety  of  lamps,  and  fre- 
quent draughts  of  the  holy  candlestick.  In 
authentic  draughts  of  Antony  and  Jerome,  we 
meet  with  thigh-bones,  and  death's-heads ;  but 
the  cemeterial  cells  of  ancient  Christians  and 
martyrs  were  filled  with  draughts  of  Scripture 
stories ;  not  declining  the  flourishes  of  cypress, 
palms,  and  olive,  and  the  mystical  figures  of 
peacocks,  doves,  and  cocks ;  but  iterately  af- 
fecting the  portraits  of  Enoch,  Lazarus,  Jonas, 
and  the  vision  of  Ezekiel,  as  hopeful  draughts 
and  hinting  imagery  of  the  resurrection,  — which 
is  the  life  of  the  grave  and  sweetens  our  habita- 
tions in  the  land  of  moles  and  pismires. 

Gentile  inscriptions  precisely  delivered  the 
extent  of  men's  lives,  seldom  the  manner  of 
their  deaths,  which  history  itself  so  often  leaves 
obscure  in  the  records  of  memorable  persons. 
There  is  scarce  any  philosopher  but  dies  twice 


316  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

or  thrice  in  Laertius  ;  nor  almost  any  life  with- 
out two  or  three  deaths  in  Plutarch ;  which 
makes  the  tragical  ends  of  noble  persons  more 
favorably  resented  by  compassionate  readers, 
who  find  some  relief  in  the  election  of  such 
differences. 

The  certainty  of  death  is  attended  with  un- 
certainties, in  time,  manner,  places.  The  va- 
riety of  monuments  hath  often  obscured  true 
graves,  and  cenotaphs  confounded  sepulchres. 
For  beside  their  real  tombs,  many  have  found 
honorary  and  empty  sepulchres.  The  variety 
of  Homer's  monuments  made  him  of  various 
countries.  Euripides  had  his  tomb  in  Africa, 
but  his  sepulture  in  Macedonia.  And  Severus 
found  his  real  sepulture  in  Rome,  but  his  empty 
grave  in  Gallia. 
Tmjanus.  He  that  lay  in  a  golden  urn  eminently  above 
the  earth,  was  not  like  to  find  the  quiet  of  these 
bones.  Many  of  these  urns  were  broke  by 
a  vulgar  discoverer  in  hope  of  enclosed  treas- 
ure. The  ashes  of  Marcellus  were  lost  above 
ground  upon  the  like  account.  Where  profit 
hath  prompted,  no  age  hath  wanted  such  min- 
ers ;  for  which  the  most  barbarous  expilators 
found  the  most  civil  rhetoric.  Gold  once  out 
of  the  earth  is  no  more  due  unto  it.  What 
was  unreasonably  committed  to  the  ground,  is 
reasonably  resumed  from  it.     Let  monuments 


URN-BURIAL.  317 

and  rich  fabrics,  not  riches,  adorn  men's  ashes. 
The  commerce  of  the  living  is  not  to  be  trans- 
ferred unto  the  dead.  It  is  not  injustice  to 
take  that  which  none  complains  to  lose,  and 
no  man  is  wronged  where  no  man  is  possessor.* 

What  virtue  yet  sleeps  in  this  "  terra  dam- 
nata"  and  aged  cinders,  were  petty  magic  to 
experiment.  These  crumbling  relics  and  long- 
fired  particles  superannuate  such  expectations. 
Bones,  hairs,  nails,  and  teeth  of  the  dead,  were 
the  treasures  of  old  sorcerers.  In  vain  we  re- 
vive such  practices;  present  superstition  too 
visibly  perpetuates  the  folly  of  our  forefathers, 
wherein  unto  old  observation  this  island  was 
so  complete,  that  it  might  have  instructed  Per- 
sia.f 

Plato's  historian  of  the  other  world  lies  twelve 
days  uncorrupted,  while  his  soul  was  viewing 
the  large  stations  of  the  dead.  How  to  keep 
the  corpse  seven  days  from  corruption,  by 
anointing  and  washing,  without  exenteration, 
were  a  hazardable  piece  of  art  in  our  choicest 
practice.  How  they  made  distinct  separation 
of  bones  and  ashes  from  fiery  admixture,  hath 
found  no  historical  solution ;  though  they  seemed 

*  The  commission  of  the  Gothic  King  Theodoric,  for  finding 
out  sepulchral  treasure.     Cassiodor.  Var.  lib.  4. 

f  "  Britannia  hodie  earn  attonite  celebrat  tantis  ceremoniis,  ut 
dedisse  Persis  videri  possit."  —  Plin.  lib.  30. 


318  IIYDRIOTAPHIA. 

to  make  a  distinct  collection,  and  overlooked 
not  Pyrrhus's  toe,*  Some  provision  they  might 
make  by  fictile  vessels,  coverings,  tiles,  or  flat 
stones  upon  and  about  the  body,  (and  in  the 
same  field,  not  far  from  those  urns,  many  stones 
were  found  under  ground,)  as  also  by  careful 
separation  of  extraneous  matter,  composing  and 
raking  up  the  burnt  bones  with  forks,  —  observ- 
able in  that  notable  lump  of  Galvanus  Martia- 
nus,  who  had  the  sight  of  the  "  vas  ustrinum," 
or  vessel  wherein  they  burnt  the  dead,  found 
in  the  Esquiline  field  at  Rome,  might  have  af- 
forded clearer  solution.  But  their  insatisfac- 
tion  herein  begat  that  remarkable  invention  in 
the  funeral  pyres  of  some  princes,  by  incom- 
bustible sheets  made  with  a  texture  of  asbes- 
tos, incremable  flax,  or  salamander's  wool, 
which  preserved  their  bones  and  ashes  incom- 
mixed. 

How  the  bulk  of  man  should  sink  into  so  few 
pounds  of  bones  and  ashes,  may  seem  strange 
unto  any  who  considers  not  its  constitution, 
and  how  slender  a  mass  will  remain  upon  an 
open  and  urging  fire  of  the  carnal  composition. 
Even  bones  themselves,  reduced  into  ashes,  do 
abate  a  notable  proportion  ;  and  consisting  much 
of  a  volatile  salt,  when  that  is  fired  out,  make 
a  light   kind  of  cinders;  although   their   bulk 

*  Which  could  not  be  burnt. 


URN-BURIAL.  319 

be  disproportionable  to  their  weight,  when  the 
heavy  principle  of  salt  is  fired  out,  and  the 
earth  almost  only  remaineth ;  —  observable  in 
sallow,  which  makes  more  ashes  than  oak,  and 
discovers  the  common  fraud  of  selling  ashes  by 
measure,  and  not  by  ponderation. 

Some  bones  make  best  skeletons,  some  bodies  01d  b°ne3' 

according 

quick  and  speediest  ashes.*  Who  would  ex-  toLyserus. 
pcct  a  quick  flame  from  hydropical  Heraclitus  ? 
The  poisoned  soldier,  when  his  belly  brake,  put 
out  two  pyres,  in  Plutarch.  But  in  the  plague 
of  Athens,  one  private  pyre  served  two  or  three 
intruders ;  and  the  Saracens,  burnt  in  large 
heaps  by  the  king  of  Castile,  show  how  little 
fuel  sufficeth.  Though  the  funeral  pyre  of  Pa- 
troclus  took  up  a  hundred  feet,f  a  piece  of  an 
old  boat  burnt  Pompey ;  and  if  the  burthen  of 
Isaac  were  sufficient  for  a  holocaust,  a  man  may 
carry  his  own  pyre. 

From  animals  are  drawn  good  burning  lights, 
and  good  medicines  against  burning.  Though 
the  seminal  humor  seems  of  a  contrary  nature 
to  fire,  yet  the  body  completed  proves  a  com- 
bustible lump,  wherein  fire  finds  flame  even 
from  bones,  and  some  fuel  almost  from  all 
parts ;    though   the    metropolis    of   humidity  J 

*  Those  of  young  persons  not  tall  nor  fat,  according  to  Co- 
lumbus. 

f  'EKaTonncdov  ev$a  Kai  XvQa. 
%  The  brain.    Hippocrates. 


320  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

seems  least  disposed  unto  it,  which  might  ren- 
der the  skulls  of  these  urns  less  burned  than 
other  bones.  But  all  flies  or  sinks  before  fire 
almost  in  all  bodies.  When  the  common  liga- 
ment is  dissolved,  the  attenuable  parts  ascend; 
the  rest  subside  in  coal,  calx,  or  ashes. 

To  burn  the  bones  of  the  king  of  Edom  for 
lime  (Amos  ii.  1)  seems  no  irrational  ferity; 
but  to  drink  of  the  ashes  of  dead  relations,*  a 
passionate  prodigality.  He  that  hath  the  ashes 
of  his  friend,  hath  an  everlasting  treasure. 
Where  fire  taketh  leave,  corruption  slowly  en- 
ters. In  bones  well  burnt,  fire  makes  a  wall 
against  itself,  experimented  in  copels  and  tests 
of  metals,  which  consist  of  such  ingredients. 
What  the  sun  compoundeth,  fire  analyzeth,  not 
transmuteth.  That  devouring  agent  leaves  al- 
most always  a  morsel  for  the  earth,  whereof  all 
things  are  but  a  colony,  and  which,  if  time  per- 
mits, the  mother  element  will  have  in  their 
primitive  mass  again. 

He  that  looks  for  urns  and  old  sepulchral  rel- 
ics, must  not  seek  them  in  the  ruins  of  temples, 
where  no  religion  anciently  placed  them.  These 
were  found  in  a  field,  according  to  ancient  cus- 
tom, in  noble  or  private  burial ;  the  old  practice 
of  the  Canaanites,  the  family  of  Abraham,  and 
the  burying-place  of  Joshua,  in  the  borders  of 

*  As  Artemisia  of  her  husband,  Mausolus. 


viator. 


URN-BURIAL.  321 

his  possessions ;  and  also  agreeable  unto  Roman 
practice  to  bury  by  highways,  whereby  their 
monuments  were  under  eye,  memorials  of  them- 
selves and  mementos  of  mortality  unto  living 
passengers ;  whom  the  epitaphs  of  great  ones 
were  fain  to  beg  to  stay  and  look  upon  them,  —  s 
a  language,  though  sometimes  used,  not  so 
proper  in  church  inscriptions.  The  sensible 
rhetoric  of  the  dead,  to  exemplarity  of  good 
life,  first  admitted  the  bones  of  pious  men  and 
martyrs  within  church  walls,  which,  in  suc- 
ceeding ages,  crept  mto  promiscuous  practice. 
While  Constantine  was  peculiarly  favored  to  be 
admitted  unto  the  church  porch;  and  the  first 
thus  buried  in  England  was  in  the  days  of 
Cuthred. 

Christians  dispute  how  their  bodies  should  lie 
in  the  grave.  In  urnal  interment  they  clearly 
escaped  this  controversy.  Though  we  decline 
the  religious  consideration,  yet  in  cemeterial 
and  narrower  burying-places,  to  avoid  confusion 
and  cross  position,  a  certain  posture  were  to  be 
admitted;  which  even  Pagan  civility  observed. 
The  Persians  lay  north  and  south;  the  Mega- 
rians  and  Phoenicians  placed  their  heads  to  the 
east ;  the  Athenians,  some  think,  towards  the 
west,  which  Christians  still  retain ;  and  Beda 
will  have  it  to  be  the  posture  of  our  Saviour. 
That  he  was  crucified  with  his  face  towards  the 
21 


322  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

west,  we  will  not  contend  with  tradition  and 
probable  account ;  but  we  applaud  not  the  hand 
of  the  painter  in  exalting  his  cross  so  high  above 
those  on  either  side,  since  hereof  we  find  no 
authentic  account  in  history,  and  even  the 
crosses  found  by  Helena  pretend  no  such  dis- 
tinction from  longitude  or  dimension. 

To  be  knaved  out  of  our  graves,  to  have 
our  skulls  made  drinking-bowls,  and  our  bones 
turned  into  pipes,  to  delight  and  sport  our  ene- 
mies, are  tragical  abominations  escaped  in  burn- 
ing burials. 

Urnal  interments  and  burnt  relics  lie  not  in 
fear  of  worms,  or  to  be  a  heritage  for  serpents. 
In  carnal  sepulture  corruptions  seem  peculiar 
unto  parts,  and  some  speak  of  snakes  out  of  the 
spinal  marrow.  But  while  we  suppose  common 
worms  in  graves,  't  is  not  easy  to  find  any 
there ;  few  in  churchyards  above  a  foot  deep ; 
fewer,  or  none,  in  churches,  though  in  fresh 
decayed  bodies.  Teeth,  bones,  and  hair,  give 
the  most  lasting  defiance  to  corruption. 

In  a  hydropical  body,  ten  years  buried  in  a 
church-yard,  we  met  with  a  fat  concretion, 
where  the  nitre  of  the  earth,  and  the  salt  and 
lixivious  liquor  of  the  body,  had  coagulated 
large  lumps  of  fat  into  the  consistence  of  the 
hardest  Castile  soap ;  whereof  part  remaineth 
with  us. 


URN-BURIAL.  323 

After  a  battle  with  the  Persians,  the  Roman 
corpses  decayed  in  a  few  days,  while  the  Per- 
sian bodies  remained  dry  and  nncorrupted. 

Bodies  in  the  same  ground  do  not  uniformly 
dissolve,  nor  bones  equally  moulder;  whereof, 
in  the  opprobrious  disease,  we  expect  no  long 
duration. 

The  body  of  the  Marquis  of  Dorset  seemed 
sound  and  handsomely  cereclothed,  that  after 
seventy-eight  years  was  found  uncorrupted.* 
Common  tombs  preserve  not  beyond  powder. 
A  firmer  consistence  and  compage  of  parts 
might  be  expected  from  arefaction,  deep  burial, 
or  charcoal.  The  greatest  antiquities  of  mortal 
bodies  may  remain  in  petrified  bones,  where- 
of, though  we  take  not  in  the  pillar  of  Lot's 
wife,  or  metamorphosis  of  Ortelius,f  some  may 
be  older  than  pyramids,  in  the  petrified  relics 
of  the  general  inundation.  When  Alexander 
opened  the  tomb  of  Cyrus,  the  remaining  bones 
discovered  his  proportion,  whereof  urnal  frag- 
ments afford  but  a  bad  conjucture,  and  have 
this  disadvantage  of  grave-interments,  that  they 
leave  us  ignorant  of  most  personal  discoveries. 

*  Of  Thomas,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  whose  body  being  buried, 
1530,  was,  1608,  upon  the  cutting  open  of  the  cerecloth,  found 
perfect,  and  nothing  corrupted,  the  flesh  not  hardened,  but  in 
color,  proportion,  and  softness  like  an  ordinary  corpse,  newly  to 
be  interred.     See  Burton's  Description  of  Leicestershire. 

f  In  his  Map  of  Russia. 


324  HYDRIOTAPIIIA. 

For  since  bones  afford  not  only  rectitude  and 
stability,  but  figure  unto  the  body,  it  is  no  im- 
possible physiognomy  to  conjecture  at  fleshy 
appendencies,  and  after  what  shape  the  mus- 
cles and  carnous  parts  might  hang  in  their  full 
consistencies.  A  full  spread  cariola*  shows 
a  well-shaped  horse  behind;  handsome-formed 
skulls  give  some  analogy  of  fleshly  resemblance. 
A  critical  view  of  bones  makes  a  good  dis- 
tinction of  sexes.  Even  color  is  not  beyond 
conjecture ;  since  it  is  hard  to  be  deceived 
in  the  distinction  of  negroes'  skulls.f  Dante's 
characters  are  to  be  found  in  skulls  as  well  as 
faces.  X  Hercules  is  not  only  known  by  his 
foot ;  other  parts  make  out  their  comproportions 
and  inferences  upon  whole  or  parts.  And  since 
the  dimensions  of  the  head  measure  the  whole 
body,  and  the  figure  thereof  gives  conjecture 
of  the  principal  faculties,  physiognomy  outlives 
ourselves,  and  ends  not  in  our  graves. 

*  That  part  next  the  haunch-bones, 
f  For  their  extraordinary  thickness. 

\  The  poet  Dante,  in  his  view  of  Purgatory,  found  gluttons  so 
meagre  and  extenuated,  that  he  conceited  them  to  have  been  in 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  it  was  easy  to  have  discovered 
Homo  or  Omo  in  their  faces ;  M  being  made  by  the  two  lines  of 
their  cheeks,  arching  over  the  eyebrows  to  the  nose,  and  their 
sunk  eyes  making  0  0,  which  makes  up  Omo. 

"  Parean  V  occhiaje  anella  senza  gemme: 
Chi  nel  viso  degli  uomini  legge  omo, 
Ben  avria  quivi  conosciuto  1'  emrae." 

Purg.  xxiii.  31. 


URN-BURIAL.  325 

Severe  contemplators  observing  these  lasting 
relics,  may  think  them  good  monuments  of  per- 
sons past,  little  advantage  to  future  beings ; 
and,  considering  that  power  which  subdueth  all 
thino-s  unto  itself,  that  can  resume  the  scattered 
atoms,  or  identify  out  of  anything,  conceive  it  su- 
perfluous to  expect  a  resurrection  out  of  relics. 
But  the  soul  subsisting,  other  matter,  clothed 
with  due  accidents,  may  salve  the  individuality. 
Yet  the  saints,  we  observe,  arose  from  graves 
and  monuments  about  the  holy  city.  Some 
think  the  ancient  patriarchs  so  earnestly  de- 
sired to  lay  their  bones  in  Canaan,  as  hoping 
to  make  a  part  of  that  resurrection,  and,  though 
thirty  miles  from  Mount  Calvary,  at  least  to  lie 
in  that  region  which  should  produce  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  dead.  And  if,  according  to  learn- 
ed conjecture,  the  bodies  of  men  shall  rise 
where  their  greatest  relics  remain,  many  are 
not  like  to  err  in  the  topography  of  their  resur- 
rection, though  their  bones  or  bodies  be  after 
translated  by  angels  into  the  field  of  Ezekiel's 
vision,  or,  as  some  will  order  it,  into  the  Valley 
of  Judgment,  or  Jehosaphat. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


HRISTIANS  have  handsomely 
i  glossed  the  deformity  of  death,  by 
careful  consideration  of  the  body, 
and  civil  rites,  which  take  off  brutal 
terminations;  and,  though  they  conceived  all 
reparable  by  a  resurrection,  cast  not  off  all  care 
of  interment.  And  since  the  ashes  of  sacrifices 
burnt  upon  the  altar  of  God  were  carefully 
carried  out  by  the  priest,  and  deposed  in  a 
clean  field  ;  since  they  acknowledged  their  bod- 
ies to  be  the  lodging  of  Christ  and  temples 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  devolved  not  all  upon 
the  sufficiency  of  soul  existence ;  and  therefore 
with  long  services  and  full  solemnities  concluded 
their  last  exequies,  wherein,  to  all  distinctions, 
the  Greek  devotion  seems  most  pathetically 
ceremonious. 

Christian  invention  hath  chiefly  driven  at 
rites  which  speak  hopes  of  another  life,  and 
hints   of  a   resurrection.     And   if  the    ancient 


URN-BURIAL.  327 

Gentiles  held  not  the  immortality  of  their  bet- 
ter part,  and  some  subsistence  after  death,  in 
several  rites,  customs,  actions,  and  expressions, 
they  contradicted  their  own  opinions ;  wherein 
Democritus  went  high,  even  to  the  thought  of 
a  resurrection,  as  scoffingly  recorded  by  Pliny.* 
What  can  be  more  express  than  the  expression 
of  Phocyllides  ?  f  or  who  could  expect  from  Lu- 
cretius $  a  sentence  of  Ecclesiastes  ?  Before 
Plato  could  speak,  the  soul  had  wings  in  Ho- 
mer, which  fell  not,  but  flew  out  of  the  body 
into  the  mansions  of  the  dead;  who  also  ob- 
served that  handsome  distinction  of  Demas  and 
Soma,  for  the  body  conjoined  to  the  soul,  and 
body  separated  from  it.  Lucian  spoke  much 
truth  in  jest,  when  he  said,  that  part  of  Her- 
cules which  proceeded  from  Alcmena  perished, 
that  from  Jupiter  remained  immortal.  Thus 
Socrates  was  content  that  his  friends  should 
bury  his  body,  so  they  would  not  think  they 
buried  Socrates,  and,  regarding  only  his  immor- 
tal part,  was  indhTerent  to  be  burnt  or  buried. 
From  such  considerations  Diogenes  might  COn- 
*  "  Similis  reviviscendi  promissa  Democrito  vanitas,  qui  non 
revixit  ipse.  Quae,  malum,  ista  dementia  est,  iterari  vitam 
morte !  "  —  Hin.  lib.  7,  c.  56. 

t   Kai  Ta^a  $'  e<  yair/s  e\7ri^ofiev  es  <f>dos  iXdelv 
Acfyav  diroixopevap,  k.  r.  X. 

X  "  Cedit  enim  retro  de  terra  quod  fuit  ante 
In  terram,"  &c. 


328  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

demn  sepulture,  and,  being  satisfied  that  his  soul 
could  not  perish,  grow  careless  of  corporal  in- 
terment. The  Stoics,  who  thought  the  souls  of 
wise  men  had  their  habitation  about  the  moon, 
mi<dit  make  slight  account  of  subterraneous  de- 
position ;  whereas  the  Pythagoreans  and  trans- 
corporating  philosophers,  who  were  to  be  often 
buried,  held  great  care  of  their  interment.  And 
the  Platonics  rejected  not  a  due  care  of  the 
grave,  though  they  put  their  ashes  to  unreason- 
able expectations,  in  their  tedious  term  of  return 
and  long-set  revolution. 

Men  have  lost  their  reason  in  nothing  so 
much  as  their  religion,  wherein  stones  and  clouts 
make  martyrs ;  and  since  the  religion  of  one 
seems  madness  unto  another,  to  afford  an  ac- 
count or  rational  of  old  rites,  requires  no  rigid 
reader.  That  they  kindled  the  pyre  aversely, 
or  turning  their  face  from  it,  was  a  handsome 
symbol  of  unwilling  ministration.  That  they 
washed  their  bones  with  wine  and  milk;  that 
the  mother  wrapped  them  in  linen,  and  dried 
them  in  her  bosom,  the  first  fostering  part  and 
place  of  their  nourishment;  that  they  opened 
their  eyes  towards  heaven  before  they  kindled 
the  fire,  as  the  place  of  their  hopes  or  original, 
were  no  improper  ceremonies.  Their  last  vale- 
diction, thrice  uttered  by  the  attendants,*  was 

*  "  Vale,  vale,  vale ;  nos  te  ordine,  quo  natura  permittet,  se- 
quemur." 


URN-BURIAL.  329 

also  very  solemn,  and  somewhat  answered  by 
Christians,  who  thought  it  too  little,  if  they 
threw  not  the  earth  thrice  upon  the  interred 
body.  That  in  strewing  their  tombs,  the  Ro- 
mans affected  the  rose,  the  Greeks  amaranthus 
and  myrtle ;  that  the  funeral  pyre  consisted  of 
sweet  fuel,  cypress,  fir,  larix,  yew,  and  trees 
perpetually  verdant,  lay  silent  expressions  of 
their  surviving  hopes.  Wherein  Christians,  who 
deck  their  coffins  with  bays,  have  found  a  more 
elegant  emblem;  for  that  tree  seeming  dead, 
will  restore  itself  from  the  root,  and  its  dry  and 
exsuccous  leaves  resume  their  verdure  again; 
which,  if  we  mistake  not,  we  have  also  observed 
in  furze.  Whether  the  planting  of  yew  in 
churchyards  holds  not  its  original  from  ancient 
funeral  rites,  or  as  an  emblem  of  resurrection 
from  its  perpetual  verdure,  may  also  admit  con- 
jecture. 

They  made  use  of  music  to  excite  or  quiet 
the  affections  of  their  friends,  according  to  dif- 
ferent harmonies.  But  the  secret  and  symbol- 
ical hint  was  the  harmonical  nature  of  the  soul, 
which,  delivered  from  the  body,  went  again  to 
enjoy  the  primitive  harmony  of  heaven,  from 
whence  it  first  descended ;  which,  according  to 
its  progress  traced  by  antiquity,  came  down  by 
Cancer,  and  ascended  by  Capricornus. 

They  burnt  not  children  before  their  teeth 


330  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

appeared,  as  apprehending  their  bodies  too  ten- 
der a  morsel  for  fire,  and  that  their  gristly 
bones  would  scarce  leave  separable  relics  after 
the  pyral  combustion.  That  they  kindled  not 
fire  in  their  houses  for  some  days  after,  was 
a  strict  memorial  of  the  late  afflicting  fire. 
And  mourning  without  hope,  they  had  a  hap- 
py fraud  against  excessive  lamentation,  by  a 
common  opinion  that  deep  sorrows  disturbed 
their  ghosts.* 

That  they  buried  their  dead  on  their  backs, 
or  in  a  supine  position,  seems  agreeable  unto 
profound  sleep  and  common  posture  of  dying, 
contrary  to  the  most  natural  way  of  birth,  nor 
unlike  our  pendulous  posture  in  the  doubtful 
state  of  the  womb.  Diogenes  was  singular, 
who  preferred  a  prone  situation  in  the  grave; 
Russians,  and  some  Christians  like  neither,  who  decline 
the  figure  of  rest,  and  make  choice  of  an  erect 
posture. 

That  they  carried  them  out  of  the  world  with 
their  feet  forward,  not  inconsonant  unto  rea- 
son, as  contrary  unto  the  native  posture  of 
man,  and  his  production  first  into  it,  and  also 
agreeable  unto  their  opinions,  while  they  bid 
adieu  unto  the  world,  not  to  look  again  upon 
it ;  whereas  Mahometans,  who  think  to  return 
to  a  delightful  life  again,  are  carried  forth  with 

*   Tu  manes  tie  Icede  meos. 


URN-BURIAL.  331 

their  heads  forward,  and  looking  toward  their 
houses. 

They  closed  their  eyes,  as  parts  which  first 
die,  or  first  discover  the  sad  effects  of  death. 
But  their  iterated  clamations  to  excitate  their 
dying  or  dead  friends,  or  revoke  them  unto  life 
again,  was  a  vanity  of  affection,  as  not  presum- 
ably ignorant  of  the  critical  tests  of  death,  by 
apposition  of  feathers,  glasses,  and  reflection  of 
figures,  which  dead  eyes  represent  not ;  which, 
however  not  strictly  verifiable  in  fresh  and 
warm  cadavers,  could  hardly  elude  the  test  in 
corpses  of  four  or  five  days. 

That  they  sucked  in  the  last  breath  of  their 
expiring  friends,  was  surely  a  practice  of  no 
medical  institution,  but  a  loose  opinion  that  the 
soul  passed  out  that  way,  and  a  fondness  of 
affection  from  some  Pythagorical  foundation, 
that  the  spirit  of  one  body  passed  into  another, 
which  they  wished  might  be  their  own. 

That  they  poured  oil  upon  the  pyre,  was  a 
tolerable  practice,  while  the  intention  rested  in 
facilitating  the  ascension.  But  to  place  good 
omens  in  the  quick  and  speedy  burning,  to  sac- 
rifice unto  the  winds  for  a  despatch  in  this 
office,  was  a  low  form  of  superstition. 

The  Archimime,  or  jester,  attending  the  fu- 
neral train,  and  imitating  the  speeches,  gesture, 
and  manners  of  the  deceased,  was  too  light  for 


332  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

such  solemnities,  contradicting  their  funeral  ora- 
tions and  doleful  rites  of  the  grave. 

That  they  buried  a  piece  of  money  with  them 
as  a  fee  of  the  Elysian  ferryman,  was  a  practice 
full  of  folly.  But  the  ancient  custom  of  placing 
coins  in  considerable  urns,  and  the  present  prac- 
tice of  burying  medals  in  the  noble  foundations 
of  Europe,  are  laudable  ways  of  historical  dis- 
coveries, in  actions,  persons,  chronologies ;  and 
posterity  will  applaud  them. 

We  examine  not  the  old  laws  of  sepulture, 
exempting  certain  persons  from  burial  or  burn- 
ing. But  hereby  we  apprehend  that  these  were 
not  the  bones  of  persons  planet-struck  or  burnt 
with  fire  from  heaven ;  no  relics  of  traitors  to 
their  country,  self-killers,  or  sacrilegious  male- 
factors, persons  in  old  apprehension  unworthy 
of  the  earth,  condemned  unto  the  Tartarus  of 
hell  and  bottomless  pit  of  Pluto,  from  whence 
there  was  no  redemption. 

Nor  were  only  many  customs  questionable  in 
order  to  their  obsequies,  but  also  sundry  prac- 
tices, fictions,  and  conceptions,  discordant  or  ob- 
scure, of  their  state  and  future  beings.  Wheth- 
er unto  eight  or  ten  bodies  of  men  to  add  one 
of  a  woman,  as  being  more  inflammable,  and 
unctuously  constituted  for  the  better  pyral  com- 
bustion, were  any  rational  practice  ;  or  whether 
the  complaint  of  Periander's  wife  be  tolerable, 


URN-BURIAL.  333 

that,  wanting  her  funeral  burning,  she  suffered 
intolerable  cold  in  hell,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  infernal  house  of  Pluto,  wherein 
cold  makes  a  great  part  of  their  tortures;  it 
cannot  pass  without  some  question. 

TS/'hy  the  female  ghosts  appear  unto  Ulysses 
before  the  heroes  and  masculine  spirits;  why 
the  Psyche,  or  soul,  of  Tiresias  is  of  the  mas- 
culine gender,*  who,  being  blind  on  earth,  sees 
more  than  all  the  rest  in  hell ;  why  the  funeral 
suppers  consisted  of  eggs,  beans,  smallage,  and 
lettuce,  since  the  dead  are  made  to  eat  aspho- 
dels f  about  the  Elysian  meadows ;  why,  since 
there  is  no  sacrifice  acceptable,  nor  any  propi- 
tiation for  the  covenant  of  the  grave,  men  set 
up  the  deity  of  Morta,  and  fruitlessly  adored 
divinities  without  ears  ;  it  cannot  escape  some 
doubt. 

The  dead  seem  all  alive  in  the  human  "  hades  " 
of  Homer,  yet  cannot  well  speak,  prophesy,  or 
know  the  living,  except  they  drink  blood,  where- 
in is  the  life  of  man.  And  therefore  the  souls 
of  Penelope's  paramours,  conducted  by  Mer- 
cury, chirped  like  bats,  and  those  which  fol- 
lowed Hercules  made  a  noise,  but  like  a  flock 
of  birds. 

The  departed  spirits  know  things  past  and  to 

*  Vv)(rf  0rj/3aiou  Tetpecriao  o-Kr)7rrpov  e^coj/.     Homer. 
f  Lucian. 


334  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

come,  yet  are  ignorant  of  things  present.  Aga- 
memnon foretells  what  should  happen  unto  Ulys- 
ses, yet  ignorantly  inquires  what  is  become  of 
his  own  son.  The  ghosts  are  afraid  of  swords 
in  Homer;  yet  Sibylla  tells  ^Eneas  in  Virgil, 
the  thin  habit  of  spirits  was  beyond  the  force  of 
weapons.  The  spirits  put  off  their  malice  with 
their  bodies,  and  Caesar  and  Pompey  accord  in 
Latin  hell ;  yet  Ajax,  in  Homer,  endures  not  a 
conference  with  Ulysses  ;  and  Deiphobus  ap- 
pears all  mangled  in  Virgil's  ghosts ;  yet  we 
meet  with  perfect  shadows  among  the  wounded 
ghosts  of  Homer. 

Since  Charon,  in  Lucian,  applauds  his  condi- 
tion among  the  dead,  whether  it  be  handsomely 
said  of  Achilles,  that  living  contemner  of  death, 
that  he  had  rather  be  a  ploughman's  servant 
than  emperor  of  the  dead ;  how  Hercules's  soul 
is  in  hell  and  yet  in  heaven,  and  Julius's  soul  in 
a  star,  yet  seen  by  ^Eneas  in  hell ;  (except  the 
ghosts  were  but  images  and  shadows  of  the  soul, 
received  in  higher  mansions,  according  to  the 
ancient  division  of  body,  soul,  and  image,  or 
simulacrum  of  them  both,)  we  leave  our  read- 
ers to  judge.  The  particulars  of  future  beings 
must  needs  be  dark  unto  ancient  theories,  which 
Christian  philosophy  yet  determines  but  in  a 
cloud  of  opinions.  A  dialogue  between  two  in- 
fants in  the  womb,  concerning  the  state  of  this 


URN-BURIAL.  335 

world,  might  handsomely  illustrate  our  igno- 
rance of  the  next,  whereof  methinks  we  yet 
discourse  in  Plato's  den,  and  are  but  embryon 
philosophers. 

Pythagoras  escapes,  in  the  fabulous  hell  of 
Dante,  among  that  swarm  of  philosophers, 
wherein,  whilst  we  meet  with  Plato  and  Soc- 
rates, Cato  is  to  be  found  in  no  lower  place 
than  Purgatory.  Among  all  the  set,  Epicurus 
is  most  considerable,  whom  men  make  honest 
without  an  Elysium,  who  contemned  life  with- 
out encouragement  of  immortality,  and,  making 
nothing  after  death,  yet  made  nothing  of  the 
king  of  terrors. 

Were  the  happiness  of  the  next  world  as 
closely  apprehended  as  the  felicities  of  this,  it 
were  a  martyrdom  to  live ;  and  unto  such  as 
consider  none  hereafter,  it  must  be  more  than 
death  to  die,  which  makes  us  amazed  at  those 
audacities  that  durst  be  nothing  and  return  into 
their  chaos  again.  Certainly  such  spirits  as 
could  contemn  death,  when  they  expected  no 
better  being  after,  would  have  scorned  to  live 
had  they  known  any.  And  therefore  we  ap- 
plaud not  the  judgments  of  Machiavel,  that 
Christianity  makes  men  cowards ;  or  that  with 
the  confidence  of  but  half  dying,  the  despised 
virtues  of  patience  and  humility  have  abased 
the  spirits  of  men,  which  Pagan  principles  ex- 


336  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

alted ;  but  rather  regulated  the  wildness  of  au- 
dacities, in  the  attempts,  grounds,  and  eternal 
sequels  of  death,  wherein  men  of  the  boldest 
spirits  are  often  prodigiously  temerarious.  Nor 
can  we  extenuate  the  valor  of  ancient  martyrs, 
who  contemned  death  in  the  uncomfortable 
scene  of  their  lives,  and  in  their  decrepit  mar- 
tyrdoms did  probably  lose  not  many  months 
of  their  days,  or  parted  with  life  when  it  was 
scarce  worth  the  living;  for  (beside  that  long 
time  past  holds  no  consideration  unto  a  slender 
time  to  come)  they  had  no  small  disadvantage 
from  the  constitution  of  old  age,  which  natu- 
rally makes  men  fearful,  and  complexionally 
superannuated  from  the  bold  and  courageous 
thoughts  of  youth  and  fervent  years.  But  the 
contempt  of  death  from  corporal  animosity  pro- 
moteth  not  our  felicity.  They  may  sit  in  the 
orchestra  and  noblest  seats  of  heaven  who  have 
held  up  shaking  hands  in  the  fire,  and  humanly 
contended  for  glory. 

Meanwhile  Epicurus  lies  deep  in  Dante's 
hell,  wherein  we  meet  with  tombs  enclosing 
souls  which  denied  their  immortalities.  But 
whether  the  virtuous  heathen,  who  lived  better 
than  he  spake,  or,  erring  in  the  principles  of 
himself,  yet  lived  above  philosophers  of  more 
specious  maxims,  lie  so  deep  as  he  is  placed; 
at  least  so  low  as  not  to  rise  against  Christians, 


URN-BURIAL.  337 

who,  believing  or  knowing  that  truth,  have  last- 
ingly denied  it  in  their  practice  and  conversa- 
tion, —  were  a  query  too  sad  to  insist  on. 

But  all  or  most  apprehensions  rested  in  opin- 
ions of  some  future  being,  which,  ignorantly 
or  coldly  believed,  begat  those  perverted  con- 
ceptions, ceremonies,  sayings,  which  Christians 
pity  or  laugh  at.  Happy  are  they  which  live 
not  in  that  disadvantage  of  time,  when  men 
could  say  little  for  futurity  but  from  reason; 
whereby  the  noblest  minds  fell  often  upon 
doubtful  deaths  and  melancholy  dissolutions. 
With  those  hopes  Socrates  warmed  his  doubt- 
ful spirits  against  that  cold  potion ;  and  Cato, 
before  he  durst  give  the  fatal  stroke,  spent  part 
of  the  night  in  reading  the  immortality  of  Pla- 
to, thereby  confirming  his  wavering  hand  unto 
the  animosity  of  that  attempt. 

It  is  the  heaviest  stone  that  melancholy  can 
throw  at  a  man,  to  tell  him  he  is  at  the  end  of 
his  nature ;  or  that  there  is  no  farther  state  to 
come,  unto  which  this  seems  progressional,  and 
otherwise  made  in  vain.  Without  this  accom- 
plishment, the  natural  expectation  and  desire 
of  such  a  state  were  but  a  fallacy  in  nature. 
Unsatisfied  considerators  would  quarrel  at  the 
justice  of  their  constitutions,  and  rest  content 
that  Adam  had  fallen  lower;  whereby,  by 
knowing  no  other  original,  and  deeper  igno- 
22 


h  l^t  W 


338  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

ranee  of  themselves,  they  might  have  enjoyed 
the  happiness  of  inferior  creatures,  who  in  tran- 
quillity possess  their  constitutions,  as  having 
not  the  apprehension  to  deplore  their  own  na- 
tures ;  and  being  framed  below  the  circumfer- 
ence of  these  hopes,  or  cognition  of  better  being, 
the  wisdom  of  God  hath  necessitated  their  con- 
tentment. But  the  superior  ingredient  and  ob- 
scured part  of  ourselves,  whereto  all  present 
felicities  afford  no  resting  contentment,  will  be 
able  at  last  to  tell  us  we  are  more  than  our 
present  selves,  and  evacuate  such  hopes  in  the 
fruition  of  their  own  accomplishments. 


OW,  since  these  dead  bones  have 
already  outlasted  the  living  ones  of 
Methuselah,  and,  in  a  yard  under 
ground,  and  thin  walls  of  clay,  out- 
worn all  the  strong  and  specious  buildings  above 
it,  and  quietly  rested  under  the  drums  and 
tramplings  of  three  conquests ;  what  prince  can 
promise  such  diuturnity  unto  his  relics,  or  might 
not  gladly  say, 

"  Sic  ego  componi  versus  in  ossa  velim." 

Time,  which  antiquates  antiquities,  and  hath  an 
art  to  make  dust  of  all  things,  hath  yet  spared 
these  minor  monuments.  In  vain  we  hope  to 
be  known  by  open  and  visible  conservatories, 
when  to  be  unknown  was  the  means  of  their 
continuation,  and  obscurity  their  protection. 

If  they  died  by  violent  hands,  and  were  thrust 
into  their  urns,  these  bones  become  considerable, 
and  some  old  philosophers  would  honor  them, 


340  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

whose  souls  they  conceived  most  pure,  which 
were  thus  snatched  from  their  bodies,*  and  to 
retain  a  stronger  propension  unto  them ;  where- 
as, they  weariedly  left  a  languishing  corpse,  and 
with  faint  desires  of  reunion.  If  they  fell  by 
long  and  aged  decay,  yet  wrapped  up  in  the 
bundle  of  time,  they  fall  into  indistinction,  and 
make  but  one  blot  with  infants.  If  we  begin  to 
die  when  we  live,  and  long  life  be  but  a  prolon- 
gation of  death,  our  life  is  a  sad  composition; 
we  live  with  death,  and  die  not  in  a  moment. 
How  many  pulses  made  up  the  life  of  Methu- 
selah, were  work  for  Archimedes.  Common 
counters  sum  up  the  life  of  Moses's  man.f  Our 
days  become  considerable,  like  petty  sums  by 
minute  accumulations,  where  numerous  frac- 
tions make  up  but  small  round  numbers,  and 
our  days  of  a  span  long  make  not  one  little 
finger.  J 

If  the  nearness  of  our  last  necessity  brought 
a  nearer  conformity  unto  it,  there  were  a  hap- 
piness in  hoary  hairs,  and  no  calamity  in  half 
senses.  But  the  long  habit  of  living  indisposeth 
us  for  dying ;  when  avarice  makes  us  the  sport 

*  Bi'77  \nr6vT<i>v  o-wfia  yj/vxal  KadapatTarai.  "  Vi  corpus 
relinquentium  animae  purissimse."  —  Oracula  Chaldaica  cum 
scholiis  Pselli  et  Phethonis. 

f  In  the  psalm  of  Moses. 

\  According  to  the  ancient  arithmetic  of  the  hand,  wherein 
the  little  finger  of  the  right  hand,  contracted,  signified  a  hundred. 


One  night 
as  long  as 


URN-BURIAL.  341 

of  death ;  when  even  David  grew  politically  cru- 
el ;  and  Solomon  could  hardly  be  said  to  be  the 
wisest  of  men.  But  many  are  too  early  old,  and 
before  the  date  of  age.  Adversity  stretcheth 
our  days,  misery  makes  Alcmena's  nights,  and 
time  hath  no  wings  unto  it.  But  the  most  te-  three. 
dious  beino;  is  that  which  can  unwish  itself,  con- 
tent  to  be  nothing,  or  never  to  have  been  ;  which 
was  beyond  the  malecontent  of  Job,  who  cursed 
not  the  day  of  his  life,  but  his  nativity,  content 
to  have  so  far  been  as  to  have  a  title  to  future 
being,  although  he  had  lived  here  but  in  a  hid- 
den state  of  life,  and  as  it  were  an  abortion. 

What  song  the  Sirens  sang,  or  what  name  -. 
Achilles  assumed  when  he  hid  himself  among 
women,  though  puzzling  questions,*  are  not  be- 
yond all  conjecture.  What  time  the  persons  of 
these  ossuaries  entered  the  famous  nations  of  the 
dead,f  and  slept  with  princes  and  counsellors, 
might  admit  a  wide  solution.  But  who  were 
the  proprietaries  of  these  bones,  or  what  bodies 
these  ashes  made  up,  were  a  question  above  an- 
tiquarianism ;  not  to  be  resolved  by  man,  nor 
easily  perhaps  by  spirits,  except  we  consult  the 
provincial  guardians  or  tutelary  observators. 
Had   they  made   as   good   provision  for  their 

*  The  puzzling    questions    of   Tiberius    unto    grammarians. 
Marcel.  Donatus  in  Suet. 

t  KXura  eBuea  vcKp&v.     Horn.    Job. 


342  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

names  as  they  have  done  for  their  relics,  they 
had  not  so  grossly  erred  in  the  art  of  perpetua- 
tion. But  to  subsist  in  bones,  and  be  but  py- 
ramidally extant,  is  a  fallacy  in  duration.  Vain 
ashes,  which  in  the  oblivion  of  names,  persons, 
times,  and  sexes,  have  found  unto  themselves  a 
fruitless  continuation,  and  only  arise  unto  late 
posterity,  as  emblems  of  mortal  vanities,  anti- 
dotes against  pride,  vainglory,  and  madding 
vices.  Pagan  vainglories,  which  thought  the 
world  might  last  forever,  had  encouragement 
for  ambition ;  and  finding  no  Atropos  unto  the 
immortality  of  their  names,  were  never  damped 
with  the  necessity  of  oblivion.  Even  old  ambi- 
tions had  the  advantage  of  ours,  in  the  attempts 
of  their  vainglories,  who,  acting  early,  and  be- 
fore the  probable  meridian  of  time,  have  by  this 
time  found  great  accomplishment  of  their  de- 
signs, whereby  the  ancient  heroes  have  already 
outlasted  their  monuments  and  mechanical  pres- 
ervations. But  in  this  latter  scene  of  time  we 
cannot  expect  such  mummies  unto  our  memo- 
Thatt'ae  ries,  when  ambition  may  fear  the  prophecy  of 
last  but  six  Elias,  and  Charles  the  Fifth  can  never  expect  to 
thousand    }jve  within  two  Methuselahs  of  Hector.* 

years. 

And  therefore  restless  inquietude  for  the  diu- 
turnity  of  our  memories  unto  present  considera- 

*  Hector's  fame  lasting  above  two  lives  of  Methuselah,  before 
that  famous  prince,  Charles,  was  extant. 


URN-BURIAL.  343 

tions,  seems  a  vanity  almost  out  of  date,  and 
superannuated  piece  of  folly.  We  cannot  hope 
to  live  so  long  in  our  names  as  some  have  done 
in  their  persons.  One  face  of  Janus  holds  no 
proportion  unto  the  other.  'T  is  too  late  to  be 
ambitious.  The  great  mutations  of  the  world 
are  acted,  or  time  may  be  too  short  for  our  de- 
signs. To  extend  our  memories  by  monuments, 
whose  death  we  daily  pray  for,  and  whose  dura- 
tion we  cannot  hope,  without  injury  to  our  ex- 
pectations, in  the  advent  of  the  last  day,  were  a 
contradiction  to  our  beliefs.  We,  whose  gener- 
ations are  ordained  in  this  setting  part  of  time, 
are  providentially  taken  off  from  such  imagina- 
tions ;  and  being  necessitated  to  eye  the  remain- 
ing particle  of  futurity,  are  naturally  constituted 
unto  thoughts  of  the  next  world,  and  cannot  ex- 
cusably decline  the  consideration  of  that  dura- 
tion, which  maketh  pyramids  pillars  of  snow, 
and  all  that  's  past  a  moment. 

Circles  and  right  lines  limit  and  close  all 
bodies,  and  the  mortal  right-lined  circle  must  ©> the 
conclude  and  shut  up  all.  There  is  no  antidote  ofdTath! 
against  the  opium  of  time,  which  temporally 
considereth  all  things.  Our  fathers  find  their 
graves  in  our  short  memories,  and  sadly  tell 
us  how  we  may  be  buried  in  our  survivors. 
Gravestones    tell    truth    scarce    forty    years.* 

*  Old  ones  being  taken  up,  and  other  bodies  laid  under  them. 


344  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

Generations  pass  while  some  trees  stand,  and 
old  families  last  not  three  oaks.  To  be  read 
by  bare  inscriptions,  like  many  in  Grater ;  *  to 
hope  for  eternity  by  enigmatical  epithets,  or 
first  letters  of  our  names ;  to  be  studied  by  an- 
tiquaries, who  we  were,  and  have  new  names 
given  us,  like  many  of  the  mummies, f  are  cold 
consolations  unto  the  students  of  perpetuity, 
even  by  everlasting  languages. 

To  be  content  that  times  to  come  should 
only  know  there  was  such  a  man,  not  caring 
whether  they  knew  more  of  him,  was  a  frigid 
ambition  in  Cardan,  $  disparaging  his  horosco- 
pal  inclination  and  judgment  of  himself.  Who 
cares  to  subsist  like  Hippocrates's  patient^,  or 
Achilles's  horses  in  Homer,  under  naked  nomi- 
nations, without  deserts  and  noble  acts,  which 
are  the  balsam  of  our  memories,  the  "  entele- 
chia  "  and  soul  of  our  subsistences  ?  Yet  to  be 
nameless  in  worthy  deeds  exceeds  an  infamous 
history.  The  Canaanitish  woman  lives  more 
happily  without  a  name,  than  Herodias  with 
one.  And  who  had  not  rather  have  been  the 
good  thief  than  Pilate  ? 

*  Gruteri  Inscriptiones  Antiquas. 

t  Which  men  show  in  several  countries,  giving  them  what 
names  they  please,  and  unto  some  the  names  of  the  old  Egyptian 
kings  out  of  Herodotus. 

\  "  Cuperem  notum  esse  quod  sim,  non  opto  ut  sciatur  qualis 
sim."  —  Card,  in  Vita  propria. 


URN-BURIAL.  345 

But  the  iniquity  of  oblivion  blindly  scatter- 
ed her  poppy,  and  deals  with  the  memory  of 
men  without  distinction  to  merit  of  perpetuity. 
Who  can  but  pity  the  founder  of  the  pyra- 
mids ?  Erostratus  lives  that  burnt  the  Temple 
of  Diana  ;  he  is  almost  lost  that  built  it.  Time 
hath  spared  the  epitaph  of  Adrian's  horse,  con- 
founded that  of  himself.  In  vain  we  compute 
our  felicities  by  the  advantage  of  our  good 
names,  since  bad  have  equal  durations;  and 
Thersites  is  like  to  live  as  loner  as  Agamemnon. 
Who  knows  whether  the  best  of  men  be  known, 
or  whether  there  be  not  more  remarkable  per- 
sons forgot  than  any  that  stand  remembered 
in  the  known  account  of  time?  Without  the 
favor  of  the  everlasting  register,  the  first  man 
had  been  as  unknown  as  the  last,  and  Methu- 
selah's long  life  had  been  his  only  chronicle. 

Oblivion  is  not  to  be  hired.  The  greater 
part  must  be  content  to  be  as  though  they  had 
not  been,  to  be  found  in  the  register  of  God, 
not  in  the  record  of  man.    Twenty-seven  names 

make  up  the  first  story,  and  the  recorded  names  Before  the 

•  T   ■  ™      fl00d- 

ever  since  contain  not  one  living  century.     The 

number  of  the  dead  long  exceedeth  all  that 
shall  live.  The  night  of  time  far  surpasseth 
the  day ;  and  who  knows  when  was  the  equi- 
nox? Every  hour  adds  unto  that  current 
arithmetic,  which   scarce  stands   one   moment. 


346  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

And  since  death  must  be  the  Lucina  of  life,  and 
even  Pagans  could  doubt  whether  thus  to  live 
were  to  die ;  since  our  longest  sun  sets  at  right 
declensions,  and  makes  but  winter  arches,  and 
therefore  it  cannot  be  long  before  we  lie  down 
in  darkness,  and  have  our  light  in  ashes ;  * 
since  the  brother  of  death  daily  haunts  us  with 
dying  mementos,  and  time,  that  grows  old  it- 
self, bids  us  hope  no  long  duration,  diuturnity 
is  a  dream  and  folly  of  expectation. 

Darkness  and  light  divide  the  course  of  time, 
and  oblivion  shares  with  memory  a  great  part 
even  of  our  living  beings.  We  slightly  remem- 
ber our  felicities,  and  the  smartest  strokes  of 
affliction  leave  but  short  smart  upon  us.  Sense 
endureth  no  extremities,  and  sorrows  destroy 
us  or  themselves.  To  weep  into  stones  are  fa- 
bles. Afflictions  induce  callosities ;  miseries  are 
slippery,  or  fall  like  snow  upon  us,  which,  not- 
withstanding, is  no  unhappy  stupidity.  To  be 
ignorant  of  evils  to  come,  and  forgetful  of  evils 
past,  is  a  merciful  provision  in  nature,  whereby 
we  digest  the  mixture  of  our  few  and  evil  days, 
and  our  delivered  senses  not  relapsing  into  cut- 
ting remembrances,  our  sorrows  are  not  kept 
raw  by  the  edge  of  repetitions.  A  great  part 
of  antiquity  contented  their  hopes  of  subsistency 

*  According  to  the  custom  of  the  Jews,  who  placed  a  lighted 
wax-candle  in  a  pot  of  ashes  by  the  corpse. 


URN-BURIAL.  347 

with  a  transmigration  of  their  souls ;  a  good  way 
to  continue  their  memories,  while,  having  the 
advantage  of  plural  successions,  they  could  not 
but  act  something  remarkable  in  such  variety 
of  beings,  and  enjoying  the  fame  of  their  passed 
selves,  make  accumulation  of  glory  unto  their 
last  durations.  Others,  rather  than  be  lost  in 
the  uncomfortable  night  of  nothing,  were  con- 
tent to  recede  into  the  common  being,  and 
make  one  particle  of  the  public  soul  of  all 
things,  winch  was  no  more  than  to  return 
into  their  unknown  and  divine  original  again. 
Egyptian  ingenuity  was  more  unsatisfied,  con- 
triving their  bodies  in  sweet  consistencies  to 
attend  the  return  of  their  souls.  But  all 
was  vanity,  feeding  the  wind  and  folly.*  The 
Egyptian  mummies,  which  Cambyses  or  time 
hath  spared,  avarice  now  consumeth.  Mummy 
is  become  merchandise,  Mizraim  cures  wounds, 
and  Pharaoh  is  sold  for  balsams. 

In  vain  do  individuals  hope  for  immortality, 
or  any  patent  from  oblivion,  in  preservations  be- 
low the  moon.  Men  have  been  deceived  even 
in  their  flatteries  above  the  sun,  and  studied 
conceits  to  perpetuate  their  names  in  heaven. 
The  various  cosmography  of  that  part  hath  al- 
ready varied  the  names  of  contrived  constella- 

*  Omnia  vanitas  et  pastio  venti,  vo/xt}  dvcpov  koL  fioo-Krjo-is, 
ut  olim  Aquila  et  Symmachus. 


<W 


1 


348  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

tions.  Nimrod  is  lost  in  Orion,  and  Osiris  in 
the  Dog-star.  While  we  look  for  incorruption 
"^N  in  the  heavens,  we  find  they  are  but  like  the 
earth,  durable  in  their  main  bodies,  alterable  in 
their  parts ;  whereof,  beside  comets  and  new 
stars,  perspectives  begin  to  tell  tales,  and  the 
spots  that  wander  about  the  sun,  with  Pha- 
ethon's  favor,  would  make  clear  conviction. 

There  is  nothing  strictly  immortal  but  immor- 
tality. Whatever  hatli^p...Jaeginnixig»,,  may 
confident  of  no  end ;  which  is  the  peculiar  of 
that  necessary  essence  that  cannot  destroy  itself, 
and  the  highest  strain  of  omnipotency  to  be  so 
powerfully  constituted,  as  not  to  suffer  even 
from  the  power  of  itself.  All  others  have  a  de- 
pendent being,  and  within  the  reach  of  destruc- 
tion. But  the  sufficiency  of  Christian  immor- 
tality frustrates  all  earthly  glory,  and  the  qual- 
ity of  either  state  after  death  makes  a  folly  of 
posthumous  memory.  God,  who  can  only  de- 
stroy our  souls,  and  hath  assured  our  resurrec- 
tion, either  of  our  bodies  or  names  hath  directly 
promised  no  duration.  Wherein  there  is  so 
much  of  chance,  that  the  boldest  expectants 
have  found  unhappy  frustration ;  and  to  hold 
long  subsistence  seems  but  a  scape  in  oblivion. 
But  man  is  a  noble  animal,  splendid  in  ashes, 
and  pompous  in  the  grave,  solemnizing  nativi- 
ties and  deaths  with  equal  lustre,  nor  omitting 


URN-BURIAL.  349 

ceremonies  of  bravery  in  the  infamy  of  his 
nature. 

Life  is  a  pure  flame,  and  we  live  by  an  invis- 
ible sun  within  us.  A  small  fire  sufnceth  for 
life ;  great  flames  seemed  too  little  after  death, 
while  men  vainly  affected  precious  pyres,  and  to 
burn  like  Sardanapalus.  But  the  wisdom  of 
funeral  laws  found  the  folly  of  prodigal  blazes, 
and  reduced  undoing  fires  unto  the  rule  of 
sober  obsequies,  wherein  few  could  be  so  mean 
as  not  to  provide  wood,  pitch,  a  mourner,  and 
an  urn.* 

Five  languagesf  secured  not  the  epitaph  of 
Gordianus.  The  man  of  God  lives  longer  with- 
out a  tomb  than  any  by  one,  invisibly  interred 
by  angels,  and  adjudged  to  obscurity,  though 
not  without  some  marks  directing  human  dis- 
covery. Enoch  and  Elias,  without  either  tomb 
or  burial,  in  an  anomalous  state  of  being,  are  the 
great  examples  of  perpetuity,  in  their  long  and 
living  memory,  in  strict  account  being  still  on 
this  side  death,  and  having  a  late  part  yet  to  act 

*  According  to  the  epitaph  of  Rufus  and  Beronica  in  Gruterus : 

"  Nee  ex 

Eorum  bonis  plus  inventum  est,  quam 
Quod  sufficeret  ad  emendam  pyram 
Et  picem  quibus  corpora  cremarentur, 
Et  prsefica  conducta  et  olla  empta." 

f  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  Egyptian,  and  Arabic,  defaced  by 
Licinius  the  Emperor. 


350  HYDRIOTAPHIA. 

upon  this  stage  of  earth.  If  in  the  decretory 
term  of  the  world  we  shall  not  all  die,  but  be 
changed,  according  to  received  translation,  the 
last  day  will  make  but  few  graves;  at  least, 
quick  resurrections  will  anticipate  lasting  sepul- 
tures. Some  graves  will  be  opened  before  they 
be  quite  closed,  and  Lazarus  be  no  wonder ; 
when  many  that  feared  to  die  shall  groan  that 
they  can  die  but  once.  The  dismal  state  is  the 
second  and  living  death,  when  life  puts  despair 
on  the  damned,  when  men  shall  wish  the  cover- 
ings of  mountains,  not  of  monuments,  and  anni- 
hilation shall  be  courted. 

While  some  have  studied  monuments,  others 
have  studiously  declined  them;  and  some  have 
been  so  vainly  boisterous,  that  they  durst  not 
acknowledge  their  graves ;  wherein  Alaricus 
seems  more  subtle,  who  had  a  river  turned  to 
hide  his  bones  at  the  bottom.  Even  Sylla,  who 
thought  himself  safe  in  his  urn,  could  not  pre- 
vent revenging  tongues,  and  stones  thrown  at 
his  monument.  Happy  are  they  whom  privacy 
makes  innocent,  who  deal  so  with  men  in  this 
world,  that  they  are  not  afraid  to  meet  them  in 
the  next;  who,  when  they  die,  make  no  com- 
motion among  the  dead,  and  are  not  touched 

T«ir' with  that  p°eticai  taunt  °f  isaiah- 

Pyramids,  arches,  obelisks,  were  but  the  ir- 
regularities of  vainglory  and  wild  enormities  of 


URN-BURIAL.  351 

ancient  magnanimity.  But  the  most  magnani- 
mous resolution  rests  in  the  Christian  religion, 
which  trampleth  upon  pride,  and  sits  on  the 
neck  of  ambition,  humbly  pursuing  that  infal- 
lible perpetuity,  unto  which  all  others  must 
diminish  their  diameters,  and  be  poorly  seen  in 
angles  of  contingency.  Anguius 

°  *  continget 

Pious  spirits,  who  passed  their  days  in  rap-  a*,  the 
tures  ^f  iuTurity,  made  little  more  of  this  world  j^i^ 
than  the  world  that  was  before  it,  while  they 
lay  obscure  in  the  chaos  of  preordination  and 
night  of  their  forebeings.  And  if  any  have 
been  so  happy  as  truly  to  understand  Christian 
annihilation,  ecstasis,  exolution,  liquefaction, 
transformation,  the  kiss  of  the  spouse,  gustation 
of  God,  and  ingression  into  the  divine  shadow, 
they  have  already  had  a  handsome  anticipation 
of  heaven ;  the  glory  of  the  world  is  surely 
over,  and  the  earth  in  ashes  unto  them. 

To  subsist  in  lasting  monuments,  to  live  in 
their  productions,  to  exist  in  their  names  and 
predicament  of  chimeras,  was  large  satisfaction 
unto  old  expectations,  and  made  one  part  of 
their  Elysium.  But  all  this  is  nothing  in  the 
metaphysics  of  true  belief.  To  live  indeed, 
is  to  be  again  ourselves,  which  being  not  only 
a  hope  but  an  evidence  in  noble  believers,  'tis 
all   one   to  lie  in   St.   Innocent's  churchyard,* 

*  In  Paris,  where  bodies  soon  consume. 


352 


HYDRIOTAPHIA. 


as  in  the  sands  of  Egypt,*  ready  to  be  any- 
thing, in  the  ecstasy  of  being  ever,  and  as 
content  with  six  feet  as  the  "  moles  "  of  Adri- 
anus.f 

"  Tabesne  cadavera  solvat 
An  rogus,  haud  refert." 

LlJCAN. 


*  Beneath  the  pyramids. 

t  A  stately  mausoleum,  or  sepulchral  pile,  built  by  Adrianus 
in  Rome,  where  now  standeth  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo. 


FROM 


The  Garden  of  Cyrus. 


FROM 


The  Garden  of  Cyrus, 

OR    THE    QUINCUNCIAL*    LOZENGE. 


ND  therefore  Providence  hath  arched 
and  paved  the  great  house  of  the 
world,  with  colours  of  mediocrity, 
that  is,  blue  and  green,  above  and 
below  the  sight,  moderately  terminating  the 
aeies  of  the  eye.  For  most  plants,  though  green 
above  ground,  maintain  their  original  white  be- 
low it,  according  to  the  candour  of  their  seminal 
pulp :  and  the  rudimental  leaves  do  first  appear 
in  that  colour,  observable  in  seeds  sprouting 
in  water  upon  their  first  foliation.  Green  seem- 
ing to  be  the  first  supervenient,  or  above-ground 
complexion  of  vegetables,  separable  in  many 
upon  ligature  or  inhumation,  as  succory,  endive, 
artichokes,  and  which  is  also  lost  upon  fading 
in  the  autumn. 

*   Quincunx.    An  arrangement  or  disposition  of  things  by  Jives 
in  a  square,  one  being  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  square. 


356  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

And  this  is  also  agreeable  unto  water  itself, 
the  alimental  vehicle  of  plants,  which  first  alter- 
eth  into  this  colour.  And,  containing  many 
vegetable  seminalities,  revealeth  their  seeds  by 
greenness ;  and  therefore  soonest  expected  in 
rain  or  standing  water,  not  easily  found  in  dis- 
tilled or  water  strongly  boiled;  wherein  the 
seeds  are  extinguished  by  fire  and  decoction, 
and  therefore  last  long  and  pure  without  such 
alteration,  affording  neither  uliginous  coats,  gnat- 
worms,  acari,  hair-worms,  like  crude  and  com- 
mon water;  and  therefore  most  fit  for  whole- 
some beverage,  and  with  malt  makes  ale  and 
beer  without  boiling.  What  large  water-drink- 
ers some  plants  are,  the  canary- tree  and  birches 
in  some  northern  countries,  drenching  the  fields 
about  them,  do  sufficiently  demonstrate.  How 
water  itself  is  able  to  maintain  the  growth  of 
vegetables,  and  without  extinction  of  their  gen- 
erative or  medical  virtues,  —  besides  the  ex- 
periment of  Helmont's  tree,  we  have  found  in 
some  which  have  lived  six  years  in  glasses. 
The  seeds  of  scurvy-grass  growing  in  water- 
pots,  have  been  fruitful  in  the  land ;  and  as- 
sarum  after  a  year's  space,  and  once  casting 
its  leaves  in  water,  in  the  second  leaves  hath 
handsomely  performed  its  vomiting  operation. 

Nor  are  only  dark  and  green  colours,  but 
shades  and  shadows,  contrived  through  the  great 


THE   GARDEN  OF   CYRUS.  357 

volume  of  nature,  and  trees  ordained  not  only 
to  protect  and  shadow  others,  but  by  their 
shades  and  shadowing  parts  to  preserve  and 
cherish  themselves:  the  whole  radiation  or 
branchings  shadowing  the  stock  and  the  root; 
—  the  leaves,  the  branches  and  fruit,  too  much 
exposed  to  the  winds  and  scorching  sun.  The 
calicular  leaves  enclose  the  tender  flowers,  and 
the  flowers  themselves  lie  wrapped  about  the 
seeds,  in  their  rudiment  and  first  formations, 
which  being  advanced,  the  flowers  fall  away; 
and  are  therefore  contrived  in  variety  of  figures, 
best  satisfying  the  intention;  handsomely  ob- 
servable in  hooded  and  gaping  flowers,  and  the 
butterfly  blooms  of  leguminous  plants,  the  lower 
leaf  closely  involving  the  rudimental  cod,  and 
the  alary  or  wingy  divisions  embracing  or  hang- 
ing over  it. 

But  seeds  themselves  do  lie  in  perpetual 
shades,  either  under  the  leaf,  or  shut  up  in 
coverings ;  and  such  as  lie  barest  have  their 
husks,  skins,  and  pulps  about  them,  wherein 
the  nib  and  generative  particle  lieth  moist  and 
secured  from  the  injury  of  air  and  sun.  Dark- 
ness and  light  hold  interchangeable  dominions, 
and  alternately  rule  the  seminal  state  of  things. 
Light   unto  Pluto*  is  darkness  unto   Jupiter. 

*  "  Lux  orco,  tenebrae  Jovi ;  tenebrse  orco,  lux  Jovi."  —  Hip- 
pocr.  de  Diseta.     S.  Hevelii  Selenographia. 


358  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

Legions  of  seminal  ideas  lie  in  their  second 
chaos  and  Orcus  of  Hippocrates ;  till,  putting 
on  the  habits  of  their  forms,  they  show  them- 
selves upon  the  stage  of  the  world,  and  open 
dominion  of  Jove.  They  that  held  the  stars 
of  heaven  were  but  rays  and  flashing  glimpses 
of  the  empyreal  light,  through  holes  and  per- 
forations of  the  upper  heaven,  took  off  the  natu- 
ral shadows  of  stars ;  while  according  to  better 
discovery  the  poor  inhabitants  of  the  moon  have 
but  a  polary  life,  and  must  pass  half  their  days 
in  the  shadow  of  that  luminary. 

Light  that  makes  things  seen,  makes  some 
things  invisible :  were  it  not  for  darkness  and 
the  shadow  of  the  earth,  the  noblest  part  of 
the  creation  had  remained  unseen,  and  the  stars 
in  heaven  as  invisible  as  on  the  fourth  day, 
when  they  were  created  above  the  horizon  with 
the  sun,  or  there  was  not  an  eye  to  behold 
them.  The  greatest  mystery  of  religion  is  ex- 
pressed by  adumbration,  and  in  the  noblest  part 
of  Jewish  types  we  find  the  cherubims  shad- 
owing the  mercy-seat.  Life  itself  is  but  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  souls  departed  but  the 
shadows  of  the  living.  All  things  fall  under 
this  name.  The  sun  itself  is  but  the  dark 
simulachrum,  and  light  but  the  shadow  of  God. 

Lastly,  it  is  no  wonder  that  this  quincuncial 
order  was  first  and  is  still  affected  as  grateful 


THE   GARDEN  OF   CYRUS.  359 

unto  the  eye.  For  all  things  are  seen  quin- 
cuncially;  for  at  the  eye  the  pyramidal  rays 
from  the  object  receive  a  decussation,  and  so 
strike  a  second  base  upon  the  retina  or  hinder 
coat,  the  proper  organ  of  vision;  wherein  the 
pictures  from  objects  are  represented,  answer- 
able to  the  paper,  or  wall  in  the  dark  chamber ; 
after  the  decussation  of  the  rays  at  the  hole  of 
the  horny-coat,  and  their  refraction  upon  the 
crystalline  humour,  answering  the  foramen  of 
the  window,  and  the  convex  or  burning-glasses, 
which  refract  the  rays  that  enter  it.  And  if 
ancient  anatomy  would  hold,  a  like  disposure 
there  was  of  the  optic  or  visual  nerves  in  the 
brain,  wherein  antiquity  conceived  a  concur- 
rence by  decussation.  And  this  not  only  ob- 
servable in  the  laws  of  direct  vision,  but  in 
some  part  also  verified  in  the  reflected  rays  of 
sight.  For  making  the  angle  of  incidence  equal 
to  that  of  reflection,  the  visual  ray  returneth 
quincuncially,  and  after  the  form  of  a  V ;  and 
the  line  of  reflection  being  continued  unto  the 
place  of  vision,  there  ariseth  a  semi-decussation 
which  makes  the  object  seen  in  a  perpendicular 
unto  itself,  and  as  far  below  the  reflectent,  as 
it  is  from  it  above ;  observable  in  the  sun  and 
moon  beheld  in  water. 

And   this    is   also   the   law   of  reflection   in 
moved  bodies  and   sounds,  which,  though  not 


360  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

made  by  decussation,  observe  the  rule  of  equal- 
ity between  incidence  and  reflection :  whereby 
whispering  places  are  framed  by  elliptical  arches 
laid  sidewise ;  where  the  voice  being  delivered 
at  the  focus  of  one  extremity,  observing  an 
equality  unto  the  angle  of  incidence,  it  will  re- 
flect unto  the  focus  of  the  other  end,  and  so 
escape  the  ears  of  the  standers  in  the  middle. 

A  like  rule  is  observed  in  the  reflection  of 
the  vocal  and  sonorous  line  in  echoes,  which 
cannot  therefore  be  heard  in  all  stations.  But 
happening  in  woody  plantations,  by  waters,  and 
able  to  return  some  words,  if  reached  by  a 
pleasant  and  well  dividing  voice,  there  may  be 
heard  the  softest  notes  in  nature. 

And  this  not  only  verified  in  the  way  of 
sense,  but  in  animal  and  intellectual  receptions : 
things  entering  upon  the  intellect  by  a  pyramid 
from  without,  and  thence  into  the  memory  by 
another  from  within,  the  common  decussation 
being  in  the  understanding  as  is  delivered  by 
car  Bovil-  BoYinus<      Whether   the  intellectual  and   fan- 

lus  de  In- 
tellects     tastical  lines  be  not  thus  rightly  disposed,  but 

magnified,  diminished,  distorted,  and  ill-placed, 

in   the   mathematics   of  some   brains,  whereby 

they   have    irregular    apprehensions   of  things, 

perverted   notions,   conceptions,   and   incurable 

hallucinations,  were  no  unpleasant  speculation. 

And  if  Egyptian  philosophy  may  obtain,  the 


THE  GARDEN  OF   CYRUS.  361 

scale  of  influences  was  thus  disposed,  and  the 
genial  spirits  of  both  worlds  do  trace  their  way 
in  ascending  and  descending  pyramids,  mystic- 
ally apprehended  in  the  letter  X,  and  the  open 
bill  and  straddling  legs  of  a  stork,  which  was 
imitated  by  that  character. 

Of  this  figure  Plato  made  choice  to  illustrate 
the  motion  of  the  soul,  both  of  the  world  and 
man:  while  he  delivereth  that  God  divided  the 
whole  conjunction  lengthwise,  according  to  the 
fWire  of  a  Greek  X,  and  then  turning;  it  about 
reflected  it  into  a  circle ;  by  the  circle  imply- 
ing the  uniform  motion  of  the  first  orb,  and 
by  the  right  lines,  the  planetical  and  various 
motions  within  it.  And  this  also  with  applica- 
tion unto  the  soul  of  man,  which  hath  a  double 
aspect,  one  right,  whereby  it  beholdeth  the  body, 
and  objects  without ;  another  circular  and  re- 
ciprocal, whereby  it  beholdeth  itself.  The  cir- 
cle declaring  the  motion  of  the  indivisible  soul, 
simple,  according  to  the  divinity  of  its  nature, 
and  returning  into  itself;  the  right  lines  re- 
specting the  motion  pertaining  unto  sense  and 
vegetation ;  and  the  central  decussation,  the 
wondrous  connection  of  the  several  faculties 
conjointly  in  one  substance.  And  so  conjoined 
the  unity  and  duality  of  the  soul,  and  made 
out  the  three  substances  so  much  considered  by 
him ;  that  is,  the  indivisible  or  divine,  the  divisi- 


362  THE   GARDEN  OF   CYRUS. 

ble  or  corporeal,  and  that  third,  which  was  the 
sy  stasis  or  harmony  of  those  two,  in  the  mystical 
decussation. 

And  if  that  were  clearly  made  out  which 
Justin  Martyr  took  for  granted,  this  figure  hath 
had  the  honour  to  characterize  and  notify  our 
blessed  Saviour,  as  he  delivereth  in  that  bor- 
rowed expression  from  Plato,  "  Decussavit  eum 
in  universo,"  the  hint  whereof  he  would  have 
Plato  derive  from  the  figure  of  the  brazen  ser- 
pent,  and  to  have  mistaken  the  letter  X  for 
T.  Whereas  it  is  not  improbable  he  learned 
these  and  other  mystical  expressions  in  his 
learned  observations  of  Egypt,  where  he  might 
obviously  behold  the  mercurial  characters,  the 
handed  crosses,  and  other  mysteries  not  thor- 
oughly understood  in  the  sacred  letter  X  ; 
which,  being  derivative  from  the  stork,  one 
of  the  ten  sacred  animals,  might  be  originally 
Egyptian,  and  brought  into  Greece  by  Cadmus 
of  that  country. 

To  enlarge  this  contemplation  unto  all  the 
mysteries  and  secrets  accommodable  unto  this 
number,  were  inexcusable  Pythagorism,  yet 
'cannot  omit  the  ancient  conceit  of  five  surnamed 
the  number  of  justice ;  *  as  justly  dividing  be- 
tween the  digits,  and  hanging  in  the  centre  of 
nine,  described   by  square   numeration,  which 

*    dlKTJ. 


THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS.  363 

angularly  divided  will  make  the  decussated  num- 
ber ;  and  so  agreeable  unto  the  quincuncial  or- 
dination, and  rows  divided  by  equality,  and  just 
decorum,  in  the  whole  corn-plantation ;  and 
might  be  the  original  of  that  common  game 
among  us,  wherein  the  fifth  place  is  sovereign, 
and  carrieth  the  chief  intention ;  —  the  ancients 
wisely  instructing  youth,  even  in  their  recrea- 
tions, unto  virtue,  that  is,  early  to  drive  at  the 
middle  point  and  central  seat  of  justice. 

Nor  can  we  omit  how  agreeable  unto  this 
number  an  handsome  division  is  made  in  trees 
and  plants,  since  Plutarch,  and  the  ancients  have 
named  it  the  divisive  number ;  justly  dividing 
the  entities  of  the  world,  many  remarkable 
things  in  it,  and  also  comprehending  the  general 
division  of  vegetables.*  And  he  that  considers 
how  most  blossoms  of  trees,  and  greatest  num- 
ber of  flowers,  consist  of  five  leaves,  and  therein 
doth  rest  the  settled  rule  of  nature,  —  so  that 
in  those  which  exceed  there  is  often  found,  or 
easily  made,  a  variety,  —  may  readily  discover 
how  nature  rests  in  this  number,  which  is  in- 
deed the  first  rest  and  pause  of  numeration  in 
the  fingers,  the  natural  organs  thereof.     Nor  in 

*  Aevbpov,  Ga/xvoy,  &pvyavop,  Uoa,  arbor,  frutex,  suffrutex, 
herba,  and  that  fifth  which  comprehendeth  the  fungi  and  tubera, 
whether  to  be  named  *A(rxiov  or  yvppov,  comprehending  also 
conferva  marina  salsa,  and  sea-cords,  of  so  many  yards  length. 


Plato  de 
Leg.  6. 


364  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

the  division  of  the  feet  of  perfect  animals  doth 
nature  exceed  this  account.  And  even  in  the 
joints  of  feet,  which  in  birds  are  most  multi- 
plied, surpasseth  not  this  number;  so  progres- 
sionally  making  them  out  in  many,*  that  from 
five  in  the  fore-claw  she  descendeth  unto  two 
in  the  hindmost ;  and  so  in  four  feet  makes  up 
the  number  of  joints  in  the  five  fingers  or  toes 
of  man. 

Not  to  omit  the  quintuple  section  of  a  cone,f 
of  handsome  practice  in  ornamental  garden- 
plots,  and  in  same  way  discoverable  in  so  many 
works  of  nature,  in  the  leaves,  fruits,  and  seeds 
of  vegetables,  and  scales  of  some  fishes ;  so  much 
considerable  in  glasses,  and  the  optic  doctrine ; 
wherein  the  learned  may  consider  the  crystalline 
humour  of  the  eye  in  the  cuttle-fish  and  loligo. 

He  that  forgets  not  how  antiquity  named  this 
the  conjugal  or  wedding  number,  and  made  it 
the  emblem  of  the  most  remarkable  conjunction, 
will  conceive  it  duly  appliable  unto  this  hand- 
some economy  and  vegetable  combination :  and 
may  hence  apprehend  the  allegorical  sense  of 
that  obscure  expression  of  Hesiod,J  and  afford 
no  improbable  reason  why  Plato  admitted  his 
nuptial  guests  by  fives,  in  the  kindred  of  the 
married  couple. 

*  As  herons,  bitterns,  and  long-clawed  fowls. 

t  Elleipsis,  parabola,  hyperbole,  circulus,  triangulum. 

X  ircfiffTas,  id  est,  nuptias  multas.     Rhodig. 


THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS.  365 

And  though  a  sharper  mystery  might  he  im- 
plied in  the  number  of  the  five  wise  and  foolish 
virgins,  which  were  to  meet  the  bridegroom, 
yet  was  the  same  agreeable  unto  the  conjugal 
number,  which  ancient  numerists  made  out  by 
two  and  three,  the  first  parity  and  imparity, 
the  active  and  passive  digits,  the  material  and 
formal  principles  in  generative  societies.  And 
not  discordant  even  from  the  customs  of  the 
Romans,  who  admitted  but  five  torches  in  their  Plutarch. 
nuptial  solemnities.  Whether  there  were  any  Rom>  -u  ' 
mystery,  or  not,  implied,  the  most  generative 
animals  were  created  on  this  day,  and  had  ac- 
cordingly the  largest  benediction.  And  under 
a  quintuple  consideration,  wanton  antiquity  con- 
sidered the  circumstances  of  generation,  while 
by  this  number  of  five  they  naturally  divided 
the  nectar  of  the  fifth  planet.* 

The  same  number  in  the  Hebrew  mysteries 
and  cabalistical  accounts  was  the  character  of 
generation,!  declared  by  the  letter  E,  the  fifth 
in  their  alphabet,  according  to  that  cabalistical 
dogma ;  if  Abram  had  not  had  this  letter  added 
unto  his  name,  he  had  remained  fruitless,  and 
without  the  power  of  generation :  not  only  be- 
cause hereby  the  number  of  his  name  attained 

*  " oscula  quae  Venus 

Quinta  parte  sui  nectaris  irabuit." 

Hor.  lib.  i.  od.  13. 
j  Archang.  Dog.  Cabal. 


366  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

two  hundred  forty-eight,  the  number  of  the 
affirmative  precepts,  but  because,  as  in  created 
natures  there  is  a  male  and  female,  so  in  divine 
and  intelligent  productions,  the  mother  of  life 
and  fountain  of  souls  in  cabalistical  technology 
is  called  JBmah,  whose  seal  and  character  was 
E.  So  that,  being  sterile  before,  he  received 
the  power  of  generation  from  that  measure  and 
mansion  in  the  archetype :  and  was  made  con- 
formable unto  Binah.  And  upon  such  involved 
considerations,  the  ten  of  Sarai  was  exchanged 
into  five.*  If  any  shall  look  upon  this  as  a 
stable  number,  and  fitly  appropriable  unto  trees, 
as  bodies  of  rest  and  station,  he  hath  herein  a 
great  foundation  in  nature,  who  observing  much 
variety  in  legs  and  motive  organs  of  animals, 
as  two,  four,  six,  eight,  twelve,  fourteen,  and 
more,  hath  passed  over  five  and  ten,  and  as- 
signed them  unto  none,  or  very  few,  as  the 
Phalangium  monstrosum  Brasilianum  ( Clusii  et 
Jac.  de  Laet.  Cur.  Poster.  Ameriece  Descript.'), 
if  perfectly  described.  And  for  the  stability 
of  this  number,  he  shall  not  want  the  sphericity 
of  its  nature,  which  multiplied  in  itself  will 
return  into  its  own  denomination,  and  bring 
up  the  rear  of  the  account.  Which  is  also  one 
of  the  numbers  that  makes  up  the  mystical 
name  of  God,  which  consisting  of  letters   de- 

*  Jod  into  lie. 


THE   GARDEN  OF   CYRUS.  367 

noting  all  the  spherical  numbers,  ten,  five,  and 
six,  emphatically  sets  forth  the  notion  of  Tris- 
megistus,  and  that  intelligible  sphere,  which  is 
the  nature  of  God. 

Many  expressions  by  this  number  occur  in 
Holy  Scripture,  perhaps  unjustly  laden  with 
mystical  expositions,  and  little  concerning  our 
order.  That  the  Israelites  were  forbidden  to 
eat  the  fruit  of  their  new-planted  trees  before 
the  fifth  year,  was  very  agreeable  unto  the  nat- 
ural rules  of  husbandry ;  fruits  being  unwhole- 
some and  lash,*  before  the  fourth  or  fifth  year. 
In  the  second  day  or  feminine  part  of  five,  there 
was  added  no  approbation.  For  in  the  third  or 
masculine  day,  the  same  is  twice  repeated ;  and 
a  double  benediction  enclosed  both  creations, 
whereof  the  one,  in  some  part,  was  but  an 
accomplishment  of  the  other.  That  the  tres-  Lev.  vi. 
passer  was  to  pay  a  fifth  part  above  the  head  or 
principal,  makes  no  secret  in  this  number,  and 
implied  no  more  than  one  part  above  the  prin- 
cipal ;  which  being  considered  in  four  parts,  the 
additional  forfeit  must  bear  the  name  of  a  fifth. 
The  five  golden  mice  had  plainly  their  determi- 
nation from  the  number  of  the  princes.  That 
five  should  put  to  flight  an  hundred  might  have 
nothing  mystically  implied ;  considering  a  rank 

*  "  lash.]     Soft  and  watery,  but  without  flavour."  —  Forby's 
Vocabulary  of  East  Anglia. 


368  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

of  soldiers  could  scarce  consist  of  a  lesser  num- 
ber. Saint  Paul  had  rather  speak  five  words  in 
a  known,  than  ten  thousand  in  an  unknown 
tongue ;  that  is,  as  little  as  could  well  be 
spoken ;  a  simple  proposition  consisting  of  three 
words,  and  a  complexed  one  not  ordinarily 
short  of  five. 

More  considerables  there  are  in  this  mystical 
account,  which  we  must  not  insist  on.  And 
therefore,  why  the  radical  letters  in  the  Penta- 
teuch should  equal  the  number  of  the  soldiery 
of  the  tribes  ?  Why  our  Saviour  in  the  wilder- 
ness fed  five  thousand  persons  with  five  barley 
loaves;  and  again,  but  four  thousand  with  no 
less  than  seven  of  wheat  ?  Why  Joseph  de- 
signed five  changes  of  raiment  unto  Benjamin ; 
and  David  took  just  five  pebbles*  out  of  the 
brook  against  the  Pagan  champion  ;  —  we  leave 
it  unto  arithmetical  divinity,  and  theological 
explanation. 

Yet  if  any  delight  in  new  problems,  or  think 
it  worth  the  enquiry,  whether  the  critical  phy- 
sician hath  rightly  hit  the  nominal  notation 
of  quinque  ?  Why  the  ancients  mixed  five  or 
three,  but  not  four  parts  of  water  unto  their 
wine  ;  and  Hippocrates  observed  a  fifth  propor- 
tion in  the  mixture  of  water  with  milk,  as  in 
dysenteries  and  bloody  fluxes?      Under  what 

*  T€(r<rapa  eWe,  four  and  one,  or  five.     Scalig. 


THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS.  369 

abstruse  foundation  astrologers  do  figure  the 
good  or  bad  fate  from  our  children,  in  good 
fortune ;  *  or  the  fifth  house  of  their  celestial 
schemes  ?  Whether  the  Egyptians  described  a 
star  by  a  figure  of  five  points,  with  reference 
unto  the  five  capital  aspects,!  whereby  they 
transmit  their  influences,  or  abstruser  considera- 
tions ?  Why  the  cabalistical  doctors,  who  con- 
ceive the  whole  sephiroth,  or  divine  emanations 
to  have  guided  the  ten-stringed  harp  of  David, 
whereby  he  pacified  the  evil  spirit  of  Saul,  in 
strict  numeration  do  begin  with  the  perihypate 
meson,  or  si  fa  ut,  and  so  place  the  tiphereth  an- 
swering c  sol  fa  ut,  upon  the  fifth  string?  or 
whether  this  number  be  oftener  applied  unto 
bad  things  and  ends,  than  good  in  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, and  why  ?  he  may  meet  with  abstrusities 
of  no  ready  resolution. 

If  any  shall  question  the  rationality  of  that 
magic,  in  the  cure  of  the  blind  man  by  Serapis, 
commanded  to  place  five  fingers  on  his  altar, 
and  then  his  hand  on  his  eyes?  Why,  since 
the  whole  comedy  is  primarily  and  naturally 
comprised  in  four  parts,  J  and  antiquity  per- 
mitted not  so  many  persons  to  speak  in  one 
scene,  yet  would  not  comprehend  the  same  in 

*  'AyaOr)  rvx^j  bonafortuna,  the  name  of  the  fifth  house, 
f  Conjunct,  opposite,  sextile,  trigonal,  tetragonal. 
X  Tlporaa-is,  «riVa(m,  Karaaracns,  /caraorpo^)^. 
24 


370  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

more  or  less  than  five  acts?  Why  amongst 
sea-stars  nature  chiefly  delighteth  in  five 
points?  And  since  there  are  found  some  of 
no  fewer  than  twelve,  and  some  of  seven,  and 
nine,  there  are  few  or  none  discovered  of  six  or 
eight  ?  *  If  any  shall  enquire  why  the  flowers 
of  rue  properly  consist  of  four  leaves,  the  first 
and  third  flower  have  five  ?  Why,  since  many 
umnuiu-  flowers  have  one  leaf  or  none,  as  Scaliger  will 
folium.  nave  jt,  divers  three,  and  the  greatest  number 
consist  of  five  divided  from  their  bottoms,  there 
are  yet  so  few  of  two  ?  or  why  nature,  gener- 
ally beginning  or  setting  out  with  two  opposite 
leaves  at  the  root,  doth  so  seldom  conclude  with 
that  order  and  number  at  the  flower?  He 
shall  not  pass  his  hours  in  vulgar  speculations. 
If  any  shall  further  query  why  magnetical 
philosophy  excludeth  decussations,  and  needles 
transversely  placed  do  naturally  distract  their 
verticities?  Why  geomancers  do  imitate  the 
•quintuple  figure,  in  their  mother  characters  of 
acquisition  and  amission,  &c,  somewhat  answer- 
ing the  figures  in  the  lady  or  speckled  beetle  ? 

*  Why  amongst  sea-stars,  <f  c]  The  far  greater  number  of  this 
group  of  Radiata  is  pentagonal,  or  five-rayed.  But  there  occur 
in  many  species  individuals  which  vary  from  the  rule.  In  the 
British  Museum  there  are  specimens  of  Ophiura  elegans  and 
Asterias  reticulata  with  but  four  rays;  of  some  unnamed  species 
with  4,  5,  6,  and  7 ;  of  A.  variolata  with  4,  5,  6,  7,  and  8  rays ;  of 
A.  endica  with  8  and  9;  and  A.papposa  with  from  12  to  15  rays. 


THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS.  371 

With  what  equity  chiromantical  conjecturers  de- 
cry these  decussations  in  the  lines  and  mounts 
of  the  hand  ?  What  that  decussated  figure  in- 
tendeth  in  the  medal  of  Alexander  the  Great  ? 
Why  the  goddesses  sit  commonly  cross-legged 
in  ancient  draughts,  since  Juno  is  described  in 
the  same  as  a  veneficial  posture  to  hinder  the 
birth  of  Hercules  ?  If  any  shall  doubt  why  at 
the  amphidromical  feasts,  on  the  fifth  day  after 
the  child  was  born,  presents  were  sent  from 
friends,  of  polypuses  and  cuttle-fishes?  Why 
five  must  be  only  left  in  that  symbolical  mutiny 
among  the  men  of  Cadmus  ?  Why  Proteus  in 
Homer,  the  symbol  of  the  first  matter,  before 
he  settled  himself  in  the  midst  of  his  sea-mon- 
sters, doth  place  them  out  by  fives  ?  Why  the 
fifth  year's  ox  was  acceptable  sacrifice  unto  Ju- 
piter? Or  why  the  noble  Antoninus  in  some 
sense  doth  call  the  soul  itself  a  rhombus?  He 
shall  not  fall  on  trite  or  trivial  disquisitions. 
And  these  we  invent  and  propose  unto  acuter 
inquirers,  nauseating  crambe  verities  and  ques- 
tions over-queried.  Flat  and  flexible  truths  are 
beat  out  by  every  hammer ;  but  Yulcan  and  his 
whole  forge  sweat  to  work  out  Achilles  his  ar- 
mour. A  large  field  is  yet  left  unto  sharper 
discerners  to  enlarge  upon  this  order,  to  search 
out  the  quaternion  and  figured  draughts  of  this 
nature,  and  (moderating  the   study  of  names, 


372  THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS. 

and  mere  nomenclature  of  plants),  to  erect 
generalities,  disclose  unobserved  proprieties,  not 
only  in  the  vegetable  shop,  but  the  whole  vol- 
ume of  nature ;  affording  delightful  truths,  con- 
firmable  by  sense  and  ocular  observation,  which 
seems  to  me  the  surest  path  to  trace  the  laby- 
rinth of  truth.*  For  though  discursive  inquiry 
and  rational  conjecture  may  leave  handsome 
gashes  and  flesh-wounds ;  yet  without  conjunc- 
tion of  this,  expect  no  mortal  or  dispatching 
blows  unto  error. 

But  the  quincunx  f  of  heaven  runs  low,  and 
't  is  time  to  close  the  five  ports  of  knowledge. 
We  are  unwilling  to  spin  out  our  awaking 
thoughts  into  the  phantasms  of  sleep,  which 
often  continueth  precogitations ;  making  cables 
of  cobwebs,  and  wildernesses  of  handsome 
Deinsom-  groves.  Beside,  Hippocrates  hath  spoke  so 
little,   and  the  oneirocritical  masters  have  left 


nns. 
Artemido 


ruset        sucn   frigid    interpretations    from    plants,   that 

Apomazar.  . 

there  is  little  encouragement  to  dream  of  .Para- 
dise itself.  Nor  will  the  sweetest  delight  of 
gardens  afford  much  comfort  in  sleep ;  wherein 
the  dulness  of  that  sense  shakes  hands  with  de- 

*  and  {moderating  the  study  of  names,  and  mere  nomenclature  of 
plants),  to  erect  generalities,  <fc]  In  these  observations  the  im- 
portance and  necessity  of  endeavouring  to  approximate  to  the 
true  natural  system  of  plants,  is  very  curiously  and  sagaciously 
anticipated  by  our  author. 

f  Jlyades,  near  the  horizon  about  midnight,  at  that  time. 


THE   GARDEN  OF  CYRUS.  373 

lectable  odours ;  and  though  in  the  bed  of  Cle- 
opatra,* can  hardly  with  any  delight  raise  up 
the  ghost  of  a  rose. 

Night,  which  Pagan  theology  could  make  the 
daughter  of  Chaos,  affords  no  advantage  to  the 
description  of  order ;  although  no  lower  than 
that  mass  can  we  derive  its  genealogy.  All 
things  began  in  order,  so  shall  they  end,  and  so 
shall  they  begin  again ;  according  to  the  or- 
dainer  of  order  and  mystical  mathematics  of 
the  city  of  heaven. 

Though  Somnus  in  Homer  be  sent  to  rouse 
up  Agamemnon,  I  find  no  such  effects  in  these 
drowsy  approaches  of  sleep.  To  keep  our  eyes 
open  longer,  were  but  to  act  our  Antipodes. 
The  huntsmen  are  up  in  America,  and  they  are 
already  past  their  first  sleep  in  Persia.  But 
who  can  be  drowsy  at  that  hour  which  freed  us 
from  everlasting  sleep?  or  have  slumbering 
thoughts  at  that  time,  when  sleep  itself  must 
end,  and  as  some  conjecture  all  shall  awake 
again. 

*  Strewed  with  roses. 


FROM 


Vulgar  Errors. 


[The  following  passages  are  selected  as  specimens 
from  different  parts  of  the  "  Enquiries  into  Vulgar 
and  Common  Errors."] 


Vulgar   Errors. 


■^Ittj^S-  DAM,  upon  the  expostulation  of  God,  Adam' 
;  /Vk;  replied,  "I  heard  thy  voice  in  the 
iVir  garden,  and  because  I  was  naked  I 
As  ,"•«»  hid  my  self."  In  which  reply  there 
was  included  a  very  gross  mistake,  and  if  with 
pertinacity  maintained,  a  high  and  capital  error. 
For  thinking  by  this  retirement  to  obscure  him- 
self from  God,  he  infringed  the  omnisciency 
and  essential  ubiquity  of  his  Maker;  who,  as 
he  created  all  things,  so  is  he  beyond  and  in 
them  all,  not  only  in  power,  as  under  his  sub- 
jection, or  in  his  presence,  as  being  in  his  cog- 
nition, but  in  his  very  essence,  as  being  the 
soul  of  their  causalities  and  the  essential  cause 
of  their  existences.  Certainly  his  posterity,  at 
this  distance  and  after  so  perpetuated  an  im- 
pairment, cannot  but  condemn  the  poverty  of 
his  conception,  that  thought  to  obscure  him- 
self from  his  Creator  in  the  shade  of  the  garden, 


378  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

who  had  beheld  him  before  in  the  darkness  of 
his  chaos  and  the  great  obscurity  of  nothing; 
that  thought  to  fly  from  God  which  could  not  fly 
himself ;  or  imagined  that  one  tree  should  con- 
ceal his  nakedness  from  God's  eye,  as  another 
had  revealed  it  unto  his  own.  Those  tormented 
spirits,  that  wish  the  mountains  to  cover  them, 
have  fallen  upon  desires  of  minor  absurdity,  and 
chosen  ways  of  less  improbable  concealment. 
Though  this  be  also  as  ridiculous  unto  reason 
as  fruitless  unto  their  desires ;  for  he  that  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  earth  cannot  be  excluded 
the  secrecy  of  the  mountains ;  nor  can  there 
anything  escape  the  perspicacity  of  those  eyes 
which  were  before  light,  and  in  whose  optics 
there  is  no  opacity.  This  is  the  consolation  of 
all  good  men,  unto  whom  his  ubiquity  affordeth 
continual  comfort  and  security ;  and  this  is  the 
affliction  of  hell,  unto  whom  it  affordeth  de- 
spair and  remediless  calamity.  For  those  rest- 
less spirits  that  fly  the  face  of  the  Almighty, 
being  deprived  of  the  fruition  of  his  eye,  would 
also  avoid  the  extent  of  his  hand ;  which  being 
impossible,  their  sufferings  are  desperate  and 
their  afflictions  without  evasion,  until  they  can 
get  out  of  Trismegistus's  circle,  that  is,  to  ex- 
tend their  wings  above  the  universe  and  pitch 
beyond  ubiquity. 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  379 


Of  adher- 
ence unto 


BUT  the  mortalest  enemy  unto  knowledge, 
and  that  which  hath  done  the  greatest  antiquity. 
execution  upon  truth,  hath  been  a  peremptory 
adhesion  unto  authority,  and  more  especially 
the  establishing  of  our  belief  upon  the  dictates 
of  antiquity.  For  (as  every  capacity  may 
observe)  most  men  of  ages  present  so  super- 
stitiously  do  look  on  ages  past,  that  the  authori- 
ties of  the  one  exceed  the  reasons  of  the  other ; 
whose  persons  indeed,  being  far  removed  from 
our  times,  their  works,'  which  seldom  with  us 
pass  uncontrolled  either  by  contemporaries  or 
immediate  successors,  are  now  become  out  of 
the  distance  of  envies ;  and  the  further  removed 
from  present  times,  are  conceived  to  approach 
the  nearer  unto  truth  itself.  Now  hereby  me- 
thinks  we  manifestly  delude  ourselves,  and 
widely  walk  out  of  the  track  of  truth. 

For,  first,  men  hereby  impose  a  thraldom  on 
their  times,  which  the  ingenuity  of  no  age 
should  endure,  or  indeed  the  presumption  of 
any  did  ever  yet  enjoin.  Thus  Hippocrates, 
about  two  thousand  years  ago,  conceived  it  no 
injustice  either  to  examine  or  refute  the  doc- 
trines of  his  predecessors ;  Galen  the  like,  and 
Aristotle  most  of  any.  Yet  did  not  any  of 
these  conceive  themselves  infallible,  or  set  down 
their  dictates  as  verities  irrefragable ;  but  when 
they   either    deliver    their   own    inventions   or 


380  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

reject  other  men's  opinions,  they  proceed  with 
judgment  and  ingenuity,  establishing  their  as- 
sertions, not  only  with  great  solidity,  but  sub- 
mitting them  also  unto  the  correction  of  future 
discovery. 

Secondly,  men  that  adore  times  past,  con- 
sider not  that  those  times  were  once  present ; 
that  is,  as  our  own  are  at  this  instant,  and  we 
ourselves  unto  those  to  come  as  they  unto  us 
at  present.  As  we  rely  on  them,  even  so  will 
those  on  us,  and  magnify  us  hereafter,  who  at 
present  condemn  ourselves ;  which  very  absurd- 
ity is  daily  committed  amongst  us  even  in  the 
esteem  and  censure  of  our  own  times.  And, 
to  speak  impartially,  old  men,  from  whom  we 
should  expect  the  greatest  example  of  wisdom, 
do  most  exceed  in  this  point  of  folly ;  commend- 
ing the  days  of  their  youth  they  scarce  remem- 
ber, at  least  well  understood  not ;  extolling 
those  times  their  younger  years  have  heard 
their  fathers  condemn,  and  condemning  those 
times  the  gray  heads  of  their  posterity  shall 
commend.  And  thus  is  it  the  humor  of  many 
heads  to  extol  the  days  of  their  forefathers  and 
declaim  against  the  wickedness  of  times  pres- 
ent ;  which  notwithstanding  they  cannot  hand- 
somely do,  without  the  borrowed  help  and  satires 
of  times  past,  condemning  the  vices  of  their 
times  by  the  expressions  of  vices  in  times  which 


VULGAR  ERRORS.  381 

they  commend,  which  cannot  but  argue  the 
community  of  vice  in  both.  Horace,  therefore, 
Juvenal,  and  Persius  were  no  prophets,  although 
their  lines  did  seem  to  indigitate  and  point  at 
our  times.  There  is  a  certain  list  of  vices 
committed  in  all  ages  and  declaimed  against  by 
all  authors,  which  will  last  as  long  as  human 
nature ;  or  digested  into  commonplaces  may 
serve  for  any  theme,  and  never  be  out  of  date 
until  doomsday. 


A 


S  for  popular  errors,  thev  are  more  nearlv  Theerrone- 

x     A  »  *>     ous  dispo- 

founded  upon  an  erroneous  inclination  of  sitkm  of 
the  people,  as  being  the  most  deceptible  part  the  people* 
of  mankind,  and  ready  with  open  arms  to  re- 
ceive the  encroachments  of  error;  which  con- 
dition of  theirs,  although  deducible  from  many 
grounds,  yet  shall  we  evidence  it  but  from  a 
few,  and  such  as  most  nearly  and  undeniably 
declare  their  natures. 

How  unequal  discerners  of  truth  they  are, 
and  openly  exposed  unto  error,  will  first  ap- 
pear from  their  unqualified  intellectuals,  unable 
to  umpire  the  difficulty  of  its  dissensions.  For 
error,  to  speak  largely,  is  a  false  judgment  of 
things,  or  an  assent  unto  falsity.  Now  whether 
the  object  whereunto  they  deliver  up  their  as- 
sent be  true  or  false,  they  are  incompetent 
judges. 


{ 


382  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

For  the  assured  truth  of  things  is  derived 
from  the  principles  of  knowledge,  and  causes 
which  determine  their  verities ;  whereof  their 
uncultivated  understandings  scarce  holding  any 
theory,  they  are  but  bad  discerners  of  verity, 
and  in  the  numerous  track  of  error  but  casual- 
ly do  hit  the  point  and  unity  of  truth. 

Their  understanding  is  so  feeble  in  the  dis- 
cernment of  falsities  and  averting  the  errors  of 
reason,  that  it  submitteth  unto  the  fallacies  of 
sense,  and  is  unable  to  rectify  the  error  of  its 
sensations.  Thus  the  greater  part  of  mankind, 
having  but  one  eye  of  sense  and  reason,  con- 
ceive the  earth  far  bigger  than  the  sun,  the 
fixed  stars  lesser  than  the  moon,  their  figures 
plain,  and  their  spaces  from  earth  equidistant. 
For  thus  their  sense  informeth  them,  and  herein 
their  reason  cannot  rectify  them;  and  there- 
fore hopelessly  continuing  in  mistakes,  they  live 
and  die  in  their  absurdities,  passing  their  days 
in  perverted  apprehensions  and  conceptions  of 
the  world,  derogatory  unto  God  and  the  wis- 
dom of  the  creation. 

Again,  being  so  illiterate  in  the  point  of  in- 
tellect and  their  sense  so  incorrected,  they  are 
further  indisposed  ever  to  attain  unto  truth,  as 
commonly  proceeding  in  those  ways  which  have 
most  reference  unto  sense,  and  wherein  there 
lieth  most  notable  and  popular  delusion.     For 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  383 

being  unable  to  wield  the  intellectual  arms  of 
reason,  they  are  fain  to  betake  themselves  unto 
wasters  and  the  blunter  weapons  of  truth,  af- 
fecting the  gross  and  sensible  ways  of  doctrine, 
and  such  as  will  not  consist  with  strict  and 
subtile  reason.  Thus  unto  them  a  piece  of 
rhetoric  is  a  sufficient  argument  of  logic,  an  apo- 
logue of  iEsop  beyond  a  syllogism  in  Barbara ; 
parables  than  propositions,  and  proverbs  more 
powerful  than  demonstrations.  And  therefore 
are  they  led  rather  by  example  than  precept, 
receiving  persuasions  from  visible  inducements 
before  intellectual  instructions.  And  therefore 
also  they  judge  of  human  actions  by  the  event ; 
for  being  uncapable  of  operable  circumstances 
or  rightly  to  judge  the  prudentiality  of  affairs, 
they  only  gaze  upon  the  visible  success,  and 
thereafter  condemn  or  cry  up  the  whole  pro- 
gression. And  so  from  this  ground  in  the  lec- 
ture of  Holy  Scripture,  their  apprehensions  are 
commonly  confined  unto  the  literal  sense  of 
the  text ;  from  whence  have  ensued  the  gross 
and  duller  sort  of  heresies.     For  not  attaining 

'  o 

the  deuteroscopy  and  second  intention  of  the 
words,  they  are  fain  to  omit  their  superconse- 
quences,  coherencies,  figures,  or  tropologies,  and 
are  not  sometimes  persuaded  by  fire  beyond 
their  literalities.  And  therefore  all  things  in- 
visible   but   unto  intellectual   discernments,   to 


384  VULGAR   ERRORS. 

humour  the  grossness  of  their  comprehensions, 
have  been  degraded  from  their  proper  forms, 
and  God  himself  dishonoured  into  manual  ex- 
pressions. And  so  likewise,  being  unprovided 
or  unsufficient  for  higher  speculations,  they  will 
always  betake  themselves  unto  sensible  repre- 
sentations, and  can  hardly  be  restrained  the 
dulness  of  idolatry;  a  sin  or  folly  not  only 
derogatory  unto  God,  but  men ;  overthrowing 
their  reason  as  well  as  his  divinity ;  in  brief,  a 
reciprocation,  or  rather  an  inversion  of  the  cre- 
ation, making  God  one  way,  as  he  made  us 
another;  that  is,  after  our  image,  as  he  made 
us  after  his  own. 

Moreover,  their  understanding,  thus  weak  in 
itself,  and  perverted  by  sensible  delusions,  is  yet 
further  impaired  by  the  dominion  of  their  appe- 
tite, that  is,  the  irrational  and  brutal  part  of  the 
soul ;  which,  lording  it  over  the  sovereign  fac- 
ulty, interrupts  the  actions  of  that  noble  part, 
and  chokes  those  tender  sparks  which  Adam 
hath  left  them  of  reason ;  and  therefore  they  do 
not  only  swarm  with  errors,  but  vices  depend- 
ing thereon.  Thus  they  commonly  affect  no 
man  any  further  than  he  deserts  his  reason  or 
complies  with  their  aberrancies.  Hence  they 
embrace  not  virtue  for  itself,  but  its  reward ; 
and  the  argument  from  pleasure  or  utility  is  far 
more  powerful  than  that  from  virtuous  honesty ; 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  385 

which  Mahomet  and  his  contrivers  well  under- 
stood, when  he  set  out  the  felicity  of  his  heaven 
by  the  contentments  of  flesh  and  the  delights  of 
sense,  slightly  passing  over  the  accomplishment 
of  the  soul  and  the  beatitude  of  that  part  which 
earth  and  visibilities  too  weakly  affect.  But 
the  wisdom  of  our  Saviour  and  the  simplicity 
of  his  truth  proceeded  another  way,  defying  the 
popular  provisions  of  happiness  from  sensible 
expectations,  placing  his  felicity  in  things  re- 
moved from  sense,  and  the.  intellectual  enjoy- 
ment of  God,  And  therefore  the  doctrine  of 
the  one  was  never  afraid  of  universities,  or  en- 
deavoured the  banishment  of  learning  like  the 
other.  And  though  Galen  doth  sometimes  nib- 
ble  at  Moses,  and  beside  the  Apostate  Christian, 
some  heathens  have  questioned  his  philosophical 
part  or  treatise  of  the  creation ;  yet  is  there 
surely  no  reasonable  Pagan  that  will  not  admire 
the  rational  and  well-grounded  precepts  of 
Christ,  whose  life,  as  it  was  conformable  unto 
his  doctrine,  so  was  that  unto  the  highest  rules 
of  reason,  and  must  therefore  flourish  in  the 
advancement  of  learning,  and  the  perfection  of 
parts  best  able  to  comprehend  it. 

Again,   their   individual   imperfections   being 
great,  they  are  moreover  enlarged  by  their  ag- 
gregation; and  being  erroneous  in  their  single 
numbers,   once  huddled  together  they  will   be 
25 


386  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

error  itself.  For  being  a  confusion  of  knaves 
and  fools,  and  a  farraginous  concurrence  of  all 
conditions,  tempers,  sexes,  and  ages,  it  is  but 
natural  if  their  determinations  be  monstrous 
and  many  ways  inconsistent  with  truth.  And 
therefore  wise  men  have  always  applauded  their 
own  judgment  in  the  contradiction  of  that  of  the 
people  ;  and  their  soberest  adversaries  have  ever 
afforded  them  the  style  of  fools  and  madmen ; 
and  to  speak  impartially,  their  actions  have 
often  made  good  these  epithets.  Had  Orestes 
been  judge,  he  would  not  have  acquitted  that 
Lystrian  rabble  of  madness,  who,  upon  a  visible 
miracle,  falling  into  so  high  a  conceit  of  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  that  they  termed  the  one  Jupi- 
ter, the  other  Mercurius;  that  they  brought 
oxen  and  garlands,  and  were  hardly  restrained 
from  sacrificing  unto  them ;  did  notwithstand- 
ing suddenly  after  fall  upon  Paul,  and,  having 
stoned  him,  drew  him  for  dead  out  of  the  city. 
It  mio;ht  have  hazarded  the  sides  of  Democri- 
tus  had  he  been  present  at  that  tumult  of  De- 
metrius, when,  the  people  flocking  together  in 
great  numbers,  some  cried  one  thing  and  some 
another,  and  the  assembly  was  confused,  and 
the  most  part  knew  not  wherefore  they  were 
come  together;  notwithstanding,  all  with  one 
voice  for  the  space  of  two  hours  cried  out, 
"  Great  is  Diana  of  the   Ephesians."     It  had 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  387 

overcome  the  patience  of  Job,  as  it  did  the 
meekness  of  Moses,  and  would  surely  have 
mastered  any  but  the  longanimity  and  lasting 
sufferance  of  God,  had  they  beheld  the  mutiny 
in  the  wilderness,  when,  after  ten  great  miracles 
in  Egypt  and  some  in  the  same  place,  they 
melted  down  their  stolen  ear-rings  into  a  calf, 
and  monstrously  cried  out,  "  These  be  thy  gods, 
O  Israel,  which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt."  It  much  accuseth  the  impatience 
of  Peter,  who  could  not  endure  the  staves  of 
the  multitude,  and  is  the  greatest  example  of 
lenity  in  our  Saviour,  when  he  desired  of  God 
forgiveness  unto  those,  who,  having  one  day 
brought  him  into  the  city  in  triumph,  did  pres- 
ently after  act  all  dishonour  upon  him,  and  noth- 
ing could  be  heard  but  "Crucifige"  in  their 
courts.  Certainly  he  that  considereth  these 
things  in  God's  peculiar  people  will  easily  dis- 
cern how  little  of  truth  there  is  in  the  ways  of 
the  multitude ;  and  though  sometimes  they  are 
flattered  with  that  aphorism,  will  hardly  believe 
the  voice  of  the  people  to  be  the  voice  of  God. 

Lastly,  being  thus  divided  from  truth  in  them- 
selves, they  are  yet  farther  removed  by  adve- 
nient  deception.  For  true  it  is,  (and  I  hope  I 
shall  not  offend  their  vulgarities  if  I  say,)  they 
are  daily  mocked  into  error  by  subtler  devisors, 
and  have  been  expressly  deluded  by  all  profes- 


388  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

sions  and  ages.  Thus  the  priests  of  elder  time 
have  put  upon  them  many  incredible  conceits, 
not  only  deluding  their  apprehensions  with  ario- 
lation,  soothsaying,  and  such  oblique  idolatries, 
but  winning  their  credulities  unto  the  literal  and 
downright  adorement  of  cats,  lizards,  and  bee- 
tles. And  thus  also  in  some  Christian  churches, 
wherein  is  presumed  an  irreprovable  truth,  if  all 
be  true  that  is  suspected,  or  half  what  is  related, 
there  have  not  wanted  many  strange  deceptions, 
and  some  thereof  are  still  confessed  by  the  name 
of  pious  frauds.  Thus  Theudas,  an  impostor, 
was  able  to  lead  away  four  thousand  into  the 
wilderness,  and  the  delusions  of  Mahomet  al- 
most the  fourth  part  of  mankind.  Thus  all  her- 
esies, how  gross  soever,  have  found  a  welcome 
with  the  people.  For  thus  many  of  the  Jews 
were  wrought  into  the  belief  that  Herod  was 
the  Messias  ;  and  David  George  of  Leyden,  and 
Arden,  were  not  without  a  party  amongst  the 
people,  who  maintained  the  same  opinion  of 
themselves  almost  in  our  days. 

Saltinbancoes,  quacksalvers,  and  charlatans 
deceive  them  in  lower  degrees.  "Were  iEsop 
alive,  the  Piazza  and  Pont-Neuf  could  not  but 
speak  their  fallacies ;  meanwhile  there  are  too 
many,  whose  cries  cannot  conceal  their  mischief. 
For  their  impostures  are  full  of  cruelty  and 
worse  than  any  other,  deluding  not  only  unto 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  389 

pecuniary  defraudations,  but  the  irreparable  de- 
ceit of  death. 

Astrologers,  which  pretend  to  be  of  Cabala 
with  the  stars,  (such  I  mean  as  abuse  that  wor- 
thy inquiry,)  have  not  been  wanting  in  their 
deceptions ;  who,  having  won  their  belief  unto 
principles  whereof  they  make  great  doubt  them- 
selves, have  made  them  believe  that  arbitrary 
events  below  have  necessary  causes  above ; 
whereupon  their  credulities  assent  unto  any 
prognostics,  and  daily  swallow  the  predictions 
of  men,  which,  considering  the  independency 
of  their  causes  and  contingency  in  their  events, 
are  only  in  the  prescience  of  God. 

Fortune-tellers,  jugglers,  geomancers,  and  the 
like  incantatory  impostors,  though  commonly 
men  of  inferior  rank,  and  from  whom  without 
illumination  they  can  expect  no  more  than  from 
themselves,  do  daily  and  professedly  delude 
them ;  unto  whom  (what  is  deplorable  in  men 
and  Christians)  too  many  applying  themselves, 
betwixt  jest  and  earnest,  betray  the  cause  of 
truth,  and  insensibly  make  up  the  legionary 
body  of  error. 

Statists  and  politicians,  unto  whom  "  ragione 
di  stato"  is  the  first  considerable,  as  though  it 
were  their  business  to  deceive  the  people,  as  a 
maxim  do  hold  that  truth  is  to  be  concealed 
from  them ;   unto  whom  although  they  reveal 


390  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

the  visible  design,  yet  do  they  commonly  con- 
ceal the  capital  intention.  And  therefore  have 
they  ever  been  the  instruments  of  great  designs, 
yet  seldom  understood  the  true  intention  of  any ; 
accomplishing  the  drifts  of  wiser  heads,  as  inan- 
imate and  ignorant  agents  the  general  design  of 
the  world ;  who  though  in  some  latitude  of  sense 
and  in  a  natural  cognition  perform  their  proper 
actions,  yet  do  they  unknowingly  concur  unto 
higher  ends,  and  blindly  advance  the  great  in- 
tention of  nature.  Now  how  far  they  may  be 
kept  in  ignorance,  a  great  example  there  is  in 
the  people  of  Rome,  who  never  knew  the  true 
and  proper  name  of  their  own  city.  For  beside 
that  common  appellation  received  by  the  citi- 
zens, it  had  a  proper  and  secret  name  concealed 
from  them.  "  Cujus  alterum  nomen  dicere  se- 
cretis  ceremoniarum  nefas  habetur,"  says  Pliny ; 
lest  the  name  thereof  being  discovered  unto 
their  enemies,  their  penates  and  patronal  gods 
might  be  called  forth  by  charms  and  incanta- 
tions. For  according  unto  the  tradition  of  ma- 
gicians,  the  tutelary  spirits  will  not  remove  at 
common  appellations,  but  at  the  proper  names 
of  things  whereunto  they  are  protectors. 

Thus  having  been  deceived  by  themselves, 
and  continually  deluded  by  others,  they  must 
needs  be  stuffed  with  errors,  and  even  overrun 
with  these  inferior  falsities;  whereunto  whoso- 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  391 

ever  shall  resign  their  reasons,  either  from  the 
root  of  deceit  in  themselves,  or  inability  to  re- 
sist such  trivial  ingannations  from  others,  al- 
though their  condition  and  fortunes  may  place 
them  many  spheres  above  the  multitude,  yet 
are  they  still  within  the  line  of  vulgarity,  and 
democratical  enemies  of  truth. 


THE  falling  of  salt  is  an  authentic  presage-  of  the  fo- 
ment of  ill  luck,  nor  can  every  temper  1D 
contemn  it ;  from  whence  notwithstanding  noth- 
ing can  be  naturally  feared ;  nor  was  the  same 
a  general  prognostic  of  future  evil  among  the 
ancients,  but  a  particular  omination  concerning 
the  breach  of  friendship.  For  salt,  as  incor- 
ruptible, was  the  symbol  of  friendship,  and,  be- 
fore the  other  service,  was  offered  unto  their 
guests  ;  which,  if  it  casually  fell,  was  accounted 
ominous,  and  their  amity  of  no  duration.  But 
whether  salt  were  not  only  a  symbol  of  friend- 
ship with  man,  but  also  a  figure  of  amity  and 
reconciliation  with  God,  and  was  therefore  ob- 
served in  sacrifices,  is  a  higher  speculation. 


T 


O  break  the  egg-shell  after  the  meat  is  or  break- 
out, we  are  taught  in  our  childhood,  and  gheii.eegS" 


practise  it  all  our  lives ;  which  nevertheless  is 


Of  the 
lover 
knot 


392  VULGAR   ERRORS. 

but  a  superstitious  relic,  according  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Pliny,  "  Hue  pertinet  ovorum,  ut  ex- 
sorbuerit  quisque,  calices  protinus  frangi,  aut 
eosdem  cochlearibus  perforari "  ;  and  the  intent 
hereof  was  to  prevent  witchcraft ;  for  lest  witch- 
es should  draw  or  prick  their  names  therein,  and 
veneficiously  mischief  their  persons,  they  broke 
the  shell,  as  Dalecampius  hath  observed. 


etrue-  rr^HE  true  lover's  knot  is  very  much  magni- 
JL  fied,  and  still  retained  in  presents  of  love 
among  us ;  which,  though  in  all  points  it  doth 
not  make  out,  had  perhaps  its  original  from 
u  Nodus  Herculanus,"  or  that  which  was  called 
Hercules's  knot,  resembling  the  snaky  compli- 
cation in  the  caduceus  or  rod  of  Hermes ;  and 
in  which  form  the  zone  or  woollen  girdle  of  the 
bride  was  fastened,  as  Turnebus  observeth  in 
his  "  Adversaria." 


of  the  "T  X  T  HEN  our  cheek  burnetii  or  ear  tin- 
Duniing  ▼  ▼  gleth,  we  usually  say  that  somebody  is 
or  car        talking  of  us,  which  is  an  ancient  conceit,  and 

tingling. 

ranked  among  superstitious  opinions  by  Pliny. 
"  Absentes  tinnitu  aurium  prsesentire  sermones 
de  se  receptum  est,"  according  to  that  distich 
noted  by  Dalecampius. 


VULGAR   ERRORS.  393 

"  Garrula,  quid  totis  resonas  mihi  noctibus,  auris  ? 
Nescio  quern  dicis  nunc  meminisse  mei." 

Which  is  a  conceit  hardly  to  be  made  out  with- 
out the  concession  of  a  signifying  Genius,  or 
universal  Mercury,  conducting  sounds  unto  their 
distant  subjects,  and  teaching  us  to  hear  by 
touch. 


w 


HEN  we  desire  to  confine  our  words,  ofspeak- 

i  .1  -i  ing  under 

we  commonly  say  they  are  spoken  un-  the  rose. 


der  the  rose  ;  which  expression  is  commenda- 
ble, if  the  rose,  from  any  natural  property,  may 
be  the  symbol  of  silence,  as  Nazianzen  seems 
to  imply  in  these  translated  verses :  — 

"  Utque  latet  rosa  verna  suo  putamine  clausa, 
Sic  os  vincla  ferat,  validisque  arctetur  habenis, 
Indicatque  suis  prolixa  silentia  labris." 

And  is  also  tolerable,  if  by  desiring  a  secrecy 
to  words  spoke  under  the  rose,  we  only  mean 
in  society  and  compotation,  from  the  ancient 
custom  in  symposiac  meetings  to  wear  chaplets 
of  roses  about  their  heads ;  and  so  we  condemn 
not  the  German  custom,  which  over  the  table 
describeth  a  rose  in  the  ceiling.  But  more 
considerable  it  is,  if  the  original  were  such  as 
Lemnius  and  others  have  recorded,  that  the 
rose  was  the  flower  of  Venus,  which  Cupid 
consecrated  unto  Harpocrates,  the   god   of  si- 


394 


VULGAR   ERRORS. 


lence,  and  was  therefore  an  emblem  thereof, 
to  conceal  the  pranks  of  venery ;  as  is  declared 
in  this  tetrastich:  — 

"  Est  rosa  flos  Veneris,  cujus  quo  facta  laterent, 
Harpocrati  matris,  dona  dicavit  Amor; 
Inde  rosam  mensis  hospes  suspendit  amicis, 
Convivse  ut  sub  ea  dicta  tacenda  sciant." 


Of  smoke 
following 
the  fair. 


THAT  smoke  doth  follow  the  fairest,  is  a 
usual  saying  with  us  and  in  many  parts 
of  Europe  ;  whereof  although  there  seem  no 
natural  ground,  yet  is  it  the  continuation  of  a 
very  ancient  opinion,  as  Petrus  Victorius  and 
Casaubon  have  observed  from  a  passage  in  Athe- 
nasus ;  wherein  a  parasite  thus  describeth  him- 
self:— 

"  To  every  table  first  I  come, 
Whence  Porridge  I  am  called  by  some ; 
A  Capaneus  at  stairs  I  am, 
To  enter  any  room  a  ram ; 
Like  whips  and  thongs  to  all  I  ply, 
Like  smoke  unto  the  fair  I  fly." 


Of  sitting 
cross- 
legged. 


TO  sit  cross-legged,  or  with  our  fingers  pec- 
tinated or  shut  together,  is  accounted  bad, 
and  friends  will  persuade  us  from  it.  The  same 
conceit  religiously  possessed  the  ancients,  as  is 
observable  from  Pliny,  — "  Poplites  alternis  ge- 
nibus   imponere   nefas    olim " ;  and   also   from 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  395 

Athenseus,  that  it  was  an  old  veneficious  prac- 
tice, and  Juno  is  made  in  this  posture  to  hin- 
der the  delivery  of  Alcmama.  And  therefore, 
as  Pierius  observeth,  in  the  medal  of  Julia  Pia, 
the  right  hand  of  Venus  was  made  extended, 
with  the  inscription  of  Venus  Genetrix ;  for  the 
complication  or  pectination  of  the  fingers  was 
a  hieroglyphic  of  impediment,  as  in  that  place 
he  declareth. 


T 


HE  set  and  statary  time  of  paring  of  nails  or  the  par- 


and  cutting  of  hair  is  thought  by  many  a 
point  of  consideration  ;  which  is  perhaps  but  the 
continuation  of  an  ancient  superstition.  For 
piaculous  it  was  unto  the  Romans  to  pare  their 
nails  upon  the  Nundinae,  observed  every  ninth 
day ;  and  was  also  feared  by  others  in  certain 
days  of  the  week,  according  to  that  of  Auso- 
nius,  "  Ungues  Mercurio,  barbam  Jove,  Cypride 
crines,"  and  was  one  part  of  the  wickedness 
that  filled  up  the  measure  of  Manasses,  when 
't  is  delivered  that  "  he  observed  times."  * 


ing  of  nails. 


A  COMMON  fashion  it  is  to  nourish  hair  0fhair 
upon   the   moles   of  the   face ;  which   is  mXa. 
the  perpetuation  of  a  very  ancient  custom,  and, 

*  2  Chronicles  xxxiii.  6. 


396  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

though  innocently  practised  among  us,  may  have 
a  superstitious  original,  according  to  that  of  Pli- 
ny, "  Naevos  in  facie  tondere  religiosum  habent 
nunc  multi."  From  the  like  might  proceed  the 
fears  of  polling  elvelocks,  or  complicated  hairs 
of  the  head,  and  also  of  locks  longer  than  the 
other  hair ;  they  being  votary  at  first,  and  dedi- 
cated upon  occasion,  preserved  with  great  care, 
and  accordingly  esteemed  by  others,  as  appears 
by  that  of  Apuleius,  u  Adjuro  per  dulcem  ca- 
pilli  tui  nodulum." 


or  lions'        *     CUSTOM  there  is  in  most  parts  of  Eu- 

heads  upon      L2k  x  . 

epouts.  1-  jL  rope  to  adorn  aqueducts,  spouts,  and  cis- 
terns with  lions'  heads  ;  which,  though  no  illaud- 
able  ornament,  is  of  an  Egyptian  genealogy, 
who  practised  the  same  under  a  symbolical 
illation.  For  because,  the  sun  being  in  Leo, 
the  flood  of  Nilus  was  at  the  full,  and  water 
became  conveyed  into  every  part,  they  made  the 
spouts  of  their  aqueducts  through  the  head  of  a 
lion.  And  upon  some  celestial  respects  it  is  not 
improbable  the  great  Mogul  or  Indian  king  doth 
bear  for  his  arms  a  lion  and  the  sun. 


ofthep.c-   rr^HE  picture  of  the   Creator,  or  God  the 

tmvofGod.  _     I        .        ,  .  . 

A     h  ather,  in  the  shape  of  an  old  man,  is  a 


VULGAR   ERRORS.  397 

dangerous  piece,  and  in  this  fecundity  of  sects 
may  revive  the  Anthropomorphites ;  which,  al- 
though maintained  from  the  expression  of  Dan- 
iel, "  I  beheld  where  the  Ancient  of  days  did 
sit,  whose  hair  of  his  head  was  like  the  pure 
wool,"  yet  may  it  be  also  derivative  from  the 
hieroglyphical  description  of  the  Egyptians,  who, 
to  express  their  Eneph,  or  Creator  of  the  world, 
described  an  old  man  in  a  blue  mantle,  with  an 
egg  in  his  mouth,  which  was  the  emblem  of  the 
world.  Surely  those  heathens,  that,  notwith- 
standing the  exemplary  advantage  in  heaven, 
would  endure  no  pictures  of  sun  or  moon,  as 
being  visible  unto  all  the  world,  and  needing 
no  representation,  do  evidently  accuse  the  prac- 
tice of  those  pencils  that  will  describe  invisi- 
bles. And  he  that  challenged  the  boldest  hand 
unto  the  picture  of  an  echo,  must  laugh  at 
this  attempt,  not  only  in  the  description  of 
invisibility,  but  circumscription  of  ubiquity,  and 
fetching  under  lines  incomprehensible  circu- 
larity. 

The  pictures  of  the  Egyptians  were  more 
tolerable,  and  in  their  sacred  letters  more  ve- 
niably  expressed  the  apprehension  of  Divinity. 
For  though  they  implied  the  same  by  an  eye 
upon  a  sceptre,  by  an  eagle's  head,  a  crocodile, 
and  the  like,  yet  did  these  manual  descriptions 
pretend  no  corporal  representations ;  nor  could 


398  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

the  people  misconceive  the  same  unto  real  cor- 
respondencies. So  though  the  Cherub  carried 
some  apprehension  of  Divinity,  yet  was  it  not 
conceived  to  be  the  shape  thereof;  and  so  per- 
haps, because  it  is  metaphorically  predicated 
of  God  that  he  is  a  consuming  fire,  he  may  be 
harmlessly  described  by  a  flaming  representa- 
tion. Yet  if,  as  some  will  have  it,  all  mediocrity 
of  folly  is  foolish,  and,  because  an  unrequitable 
evil  may  ensue,  an  indifferent  convenience  must 
be  omitted,  we  shall  not  urge  such  represent- 
ments ;  we  could  spare  the  holy  lamb  for  the 
picture  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  dove  or  fiery 
tongues  to  represent  the  Holy  Ghost. 


of  the  sun,  ry^HE  sun  and  moon  are  usually  described 
winds'.  JL      with  human  faces.    Whether  herein  there 

be  not  a  Pagan  imitation,  and  those  visages  at 
first  implied  Apollo  and  Diana,  we  may  make 
some  doubt ;  and  we  find  the  statue  of  the  sun 
was  framed  with  rays  about  the  head,  which 
were  the  indeciduous  and  unshaven  locks  of 
Apollo.  We  should  be  too  iconomachal*  to 
question  the  pictures  of  the  winds  as  commonly 
drawn  in  human  heads,  and  with  their  cheeks 
distended ;  which  notwithstanding  we  find  con- 
demned   by    Minucius,   as    answering   poetical 

*  Quarrelsome  with  pictures. 


VULGAR   ERRORS.  399 

fancies,  and  the  gentile  description  of  JEolus, 
Boreas,  and  the  feigned  deities  of  the  winds. 


w 


E  shall  not,  I  hope,  disparage  the  resur-  of  the  sun 
rection   of  our   Redeemer,  if  we  say 


the  sun  doth  not  dance  on  Easter  day.  And 
though  we  would  willingly  assent  unto  any  sym- 
pathetical  exultation,  yet  cannot  conceive  therein 
any  more  than  a  tropical  expression.  Whether 
any  such  motion  there  were  in  that  day  wherein 
Christ  arose,  Scripture  hath  not  revealed,  which 
hath  been  punctual  in  other  records  concerning 
solary  miracles ;  and  the  Areopagite  that  was 
amazed  at  the  eclipse  took  no  notice  of  this. 
And  if  metaphorical  expressions  go  so  far,  we 
may  be  bold  to  affirm,  not  only  that  one  sun 
danced,  but  two  arose  that  day ;  that  light 
appeared  at  his  nativity,  and  darkness  at  his 
death,  and  yet  a  light  at  both;  for  even  that 
darkness  was  a  light  unto  the  Gentiles,  illumi- 
nated by  that  obscurity ;  that  't  was  the  first 
time  the  sun  set  above  the  horizon;  that  al- 
though there  were  darkness  above  the  earth, 
there  was  light  beneath  it ;  nor  dare  we  say  that 
hell  was  dark  if  he  were  in  it. 


400  VULGAR    ERRORS. 


Of  the 
devil. 


A 


commonly  appearetli  with  a  cloven  hoof; 
wherein,  although  it  seem  excessively  ridiculous, 
there  may  be  somewhat  of  truth ;  and  the  ground 
thereof  at  first  might  be  his  frequent  appear- 
ing in  the  shape  of  a  goat,  which  answers  that 
description.  This  was  the  opinion  of  ancient 
Christians  concerning  the  apparition  of  Panites, 
Fauns,  and  Satyrs ;  and  in  this  form  we  read 
of  one  that  appeared  unto  Antony  hi  the  wil- 
derness. The  same  is  also  confirmed  from  ex- 
positions of  Holy  Scripture ,  for  whereas  it  is 
said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  offer  unto  devils,"  the 
original  word  is  "  seghnirim,"  that  is,  rough 
and  hairy  goats,  because  in  that  shape  the  devil 
most  often  appeared ;  as  is  expounded  by  the 
rabbins,  as  Tremellius  hath  also  explained,  and 
as  the  word  Ascimah,  the  god  of  Emath,  is 
by  some  conceived.  Nor  did  he  only  assume 
this  shape  in  elder  times,  but  commonly  in  later 
days,  especially  in  the  place  of  his  worship,  if 
there  be  any  truth  in  the  confession  of  witches, 
and  as  in  many  stories  it  stands  confirmed  by 
Bodinus.  And  therefore  a  goat  is  not  improp- 
erly made  the  hieroglyphic  of  the  devil,  as  Pie- 
rius  hath  expressed  it.  So  might  it  be  the 
emblem  of  sin,  as  it  was  in  the  sin-offering; 
and  so  likewise  of  wicked  and  sinful  men,  ac- 
cording to  the  expression  of  Scripture  in  the 


VULGAR  ERRORS.  401 

method  of  the  last  distribution,  when  our  Sav- 
iour shall  separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats, 
that  is,  the  sons  of  the  Lamb  from  the  children 
of  the  devil. 


T 


HAT  temperamental  dignotions  and  con-  of  spots  on 

n  ii  ii      *ae  nails. 

jecture  ot  prevalent  humours  may  be  col- 


lected from  spots  in  our  nails,  we  are  not  averse 
to  concede,  but  yet  not  ready  to  admit  sundry 
divinations  vulgarly  raised  upon  them.  Nor  do 
we  observe  it  verified  in  others,  what  Cardan 
discovered  as  a  property  in  himself,  to  have 
found  therein  some  signs  of  most  events  that 
ever  happened  unto  him ;  or  that  there  is  much 
considerable  in  that  doctrine  of  chiromancy,  that 
spots  in  the  top  of  the  nails  do  signify  things 
past,  in  the  middle  things  present,  and  at  the 
bottom  events  to  come ;  that  white  specks  pre- 
sage our  felicity,  blue  ones  our  misfortunes ; 
that  those  in  the  nail  of  the  thumb  have  sig- 
nifications of  honor,  those  in  the  forefinger  of 
riches,  and  so  respectively  in  other  fingers,  (ac- 
cording to  planetical  relations,  from  whence  they 
receive  their  names,)  as  Tricassus  hath  taken 
up,  and  Picciolus  well  rejecteth. 

We  shall  not  proceed   to   query  what  truth 
there  is  in  palmistry,  or  divination  from  those 
lines  in  our  hands  of  high  denomination.     Al- 
26 


402  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

though,  if  anything  be  therein,  it  seems  not 
confutable  unto  man;  but  other  creatures  are 
also  considerable ;  as  is  the  forefoot  of  the  mole, 
and  especially  of  the  monkey ;  wherein  we 
have  observed  the  table  line,  that  of  life,  and 
of  the  liver. 


of  lights  F  |  AHAT  candles  and  lights  burn  dim  and 
^urmng  j^  *fo[ne  af.  ^he  apparition  of  spirits,  may  be 
true,  if  the  ambient  air  be  full  of  sulphurous 
spirits,  as  it  happeneth  ofttimes  in  mines,  where 
damps  and  acid  exhalations  are  able  to  extin- 
guish them ;  and  may  be  also  verified,  when 
spirits  do  make  themselves  visible  by  bodies  of 
such  effluviums.  But  of  lower  consideration  is 
the  common  foretelling  of  strangers,  from  the 
fungus  parcels  about  the  wicks  of  candles ; 
which  only  signifieth  a  moist  and  pluvious  air 
about  them,  hindering  the  avolation  of  the  light 
and  favillous  particles;  whereupon  they  are 
forced  to  settle  upon  the  snast. 


•wearing  of 


of  the        f  |  AHOUGH    coral    doth   properly   preserve 

A      and  fasten  the  teeth   in  men,  yet  is   it 

used  in  children  to  make  an  easier  passage  for 

them,  and  for  that  intent  is  worn  about  their 

necks.     But  whether  this  custom  were  not  su- 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  403 

perstitiously  founded,  as  presumed  an  amulet  or 
defensative  against  fascination,  is  not  beyond  all 
doubt.  For  the  same  is  delivered  by  Pliny. 
"  Aruspices  religiosum  coralli  gestamen  amoli- 
endis  periculis  arbitrantur;  et  surculi  infantiae 
adalligati,  tutelam  habere  creduntur." 


A 


STRANGE  kind  of  exploration  and  pe-  °f*hedi- 
culiar  way  of  rhabdomancy  is  that  which 


is  used  in  mineral  discoveries,  that  is,  with  a 
forked  hazel,  commonly  called  Moses's  rod, 
which,  freely  held  forth,  will  stir  and  play  if 
any  mine  be  under  it.  And  though  many  there 
are  who  have  attempted  to  make  it  good,  yet, 
until  better  information,  we  are  of  opinion  with 
Agricola,  that  in  itself  it  is  a  fruitless  explora- 
tion, strongly  scenting  of  Pagan  derivation  and 
the  "  virgula  divina,"  proverbially  magnified  of 
old.  The  ground  whereof  were  the  magical 
rods  in  poets,  that  of  Pallas  in  Homer,  that  of 
Mercury  that  charmed  Argus,  and  that  of  Circe 
which  transformed  the  followers  of  Ulysses ;  too 
boldly  usurping  the  name  of  Moses's  rod,  from 
which  notwithstanding,  and  that  of  Aaron,  were 
probably  occasioned  the  fables  of  all  the  rest. 
For  that  of  Moses  must  needs  be  famous  unto 
the  Egyptians,  and  that  of  Aaron  unto  many 
other   nations,  as  being  preserved  in  the   ark 


404  VULGAR    ERRORS. 

until  the  destruction  of  the  temple  built  by  Sol- 
omon. 


ofdiscov.  yt  PRACTICE  there  is  among  us  to  deter- 
ter°  b™a  -^J^  mine  doubtful  matters  by  the  opening  of 
book  or  a  b00k?  ancl  letting  fall  a  staff;  which  notwith- 
standing are  ancient  fragments  of  Pagan  divi- 
nations. The  first  an  imitation  of  M  Sortes  Ho- 
mericae"  or  "  Virgilianae,"  drawing  determina- 
tions from  verses  casually  occurring.  The  same 
was  practised  by  Severus,  who  entertained  omi- 
nous hopes  of  the  empire,  from  that  verse  in 
Virgil,  "  Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane, 
memento "  ;  and  Gordianus,  who  reigned  but 
few  days,  was  discouraged  by  another,  that  is, 
"  Ostendent  terris  hunc  tantum  fata,  nee  ultra 
Esse  sinunt."  Nor  was  this  only  performed  in 
heathen  authors,  but  upon  the  sacred  texts  of 
Scripture,  as  Gregorius  Turonensis  hath  left 
some  account,  and  as  the  practice  of  the  Em- 
peror Heraclius,  before  his  expedition  into  Asia 
Minor,  is  delivered  by  Cedrenus. 

As  for  the  divination  or  decision  from  the 
staff,  it  is  an  augurial  relic,  and  the  practice 
thereof  is  accused  by  God  himself.  "  My  peo- 
ple ask  counsel  at  their  stocks,  and  their  staff 
declareth  unto  them."*  Of  this  kind  of  rhab- 
*  Hosea  iv.  12. 


VULGAR    ERRORS.  405 

domancy  was  that  practised  by  Nabuchadonosor 
in  that  Chaldean  miscellany  delivered  by  Eze- 
kiel,  —  "  The  king  of  Babylon  stood  at  the  part- 
ing of  the  way,  at  the  head  of  two  ways,  to  use 
divination ;  he  made  his  arrows  bright,  he  con- 
sulted with  images,  he  looked  in  the  liver;  at 
his  right  hand  was  the  divination  for  Jerusa- 
lem."*  That  is,  as  Estius  expounded  it,  the 
left  way  leading  unto  Rabbah,  the  chief  city  of 
the  Ammonites,  and  the  right  unto  Jerusalem, 
he  consulted  idols  and  entrails,  he  threw  up  a 
bundle  of  arrows  to  see  which  way  they  would 
light ;  and  falling  on  the  right  hand,  he  marched 
towards  Jerusalem.  A  like  way  of  belomancy, 
or  divination  by  arrows,  hath  been  in  request 
with  Scythians,  Alanes,  Germans,  with  the  Af- 
ricans and  Turks  of  Algiers.  But  of  another 
nature  was  that  which  was  practised  by  Elisha, 
when,  by  an  arrow  shot  from  an  eastern  win- 
dow, he  presignified  the  destruction  of  Syria; 
or  when,  according  unto  the  three  strokes  of 
Joash  with  an  arrow  upon  the  ground,  he  fore- 
told the  number  of  his  victories.  For  thereby 
the  spirit  of  God  particulared  the  same,  and  de- 
termined the  strokes  of  the  king  unto  three, 
which  the  hopes  of  the  prophet  expected  in  twice 
that  number. 

We  are  unwilling  to  enlarge  concerning  many 

*  Ezekiel  xxi.  21. 


406  VULGAR   ERRORS. 

other;  only  referring  unto  sober  examination, 
what  natural  effects  can  reasonably  be  expected, 
when  to  prevent  the  ephialtes  or  nightmare  we 
hang  up  a  hollow  stone  in  our  stables  ;  when  for 
amulets  against  agues  we  use  the  chips  of  gal- 
lows and  places  of  execution ;  when  for  warts 
we  rub  our  hands  before  the  moon ;  or  commit 
any  maculated  part  unto  the  touch  of  the  dead. 
Swarms  hereof  our  learned  Selden  and  critical 
philologers  might  illustrate,  whose  abler  per- 
formances our  adventures  do  but  solicit.  Mean- 
while I  hope  they  will  plausibly  receive  our 
attempts,  or  candidly  correct  our  misconjec- 
tures. 


Miscellaneous  Papers 


u 


V^        0F   THE  '' 

DIVERSITY 


Fragment  on  M 


ISE  Egypt,  prodigal  of  her  embalm- 
ments, wrapped  up  her  princes  and 
great  commanders  in  aromatical 
folds,  and,  studiously  extracting 
from  corruptible  bodies  their  corruption,  am- 
bitiously looked  forward  to  immortality;  from 
which  vainglory  we  have  become  acquainted 
with  many  remnants  of  the  old  world,  who 
could  discourse  unto  us  of  the  great  things  of 
yore,  and  tell  us  strange  tales  of  the  sons  of 
Misraim,  and  ancient  braveries  of  Egypt.  Won- 
derful indeed  are  the  preserves  of  time,  which 
openeth  unto  us  mummies  from  crypts  and  pyr- 
amids, and  mammoth  bones  from  caverns  and 
excavations ;  whereof  man  hath  found  the  best 
preservation,  appearing  unto  us  in  some  sort 
fleshly,  while  beasts  must  be  fain  of  an  osseous 
continuance. 

In  what  original  this  practice  of  the  Egyp- 


410  FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES. 

tians  had  root,  clivers  authors  dispute;  while 
some  place  the  origin  hereof  in  the  desire  to 
prevent  the  separation  of  the  soul,  by  keeping 
the  body  untabified,  and  alluring  the  spiritual 
part  to  remain  by  sweet  and  precious  odours. 
But  all  this  was  but  fond  inconsideration.  The 
soul,  having  broken  its  *  *  *  *,  is  not  stayed 
by  bands  and  cerecloths,  nor  to  be  recalled  by 
Sabaean  odours,  but  fleeth  to  the  place  of  invisi- 
bles, the  ubi  of  spirits,  and  needeth  a  surer  than 
Hermes's  seal  to  imprison  it  to  its  medicated 
trunk,  which  yet  subsists  anomalously  in  its 
indestructible  case,  and,  like  a  widow  looking 
for  her  husband,  anxiously  awaits  its  return. 
***** 

Of  Joseph  it  is  said,  that  they  embalmed 
him;  and  he  was  put  in  a  coffin  in  Egypt. 
When  the  Scripture  saith  that  the  Egyptians 
mourned  for  him  three  score  and  ten  days, 
some  doubt  may  be  made,  from  the  practices 
as  delivered  by  Herodotus,  who  saith  that 
the  time  allowed  for  preserving  the  body  and 
mourning  was  seventy  days.  Amongst  the 
Rabbins,  there  is  an  old  tradition,  that  Joseph's 
body  was  dried  by  smoke,  and  preserved  in  the 
river  Nile,  till  the  final  departure  of  the  children 
of  Israel  from  Egypt,  according  to  the  Targum 
of  Uzziel.  Sckichardus  delivereth  it  as  the 
opinion    of  K.    Abraham   Seba,  that   this   was 


FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES.  411 

done  in  contempt  of  Egypt,  as  unworthy  of  the 
depositee  of  that  great  patriarch ;  also  as  a 
type  of  the  infants  who  were  drowned  in  that 
river,  whereto  Sckichardus  subjoineth  that  it 
was  physically  proper  to  prevent  corruption. 
The  Rabbins  likewise  idly  dream  that  these 
bones  were  carried  away  by  Moses  about  a 
century  after,  when  they  departed  into  Egypt, 
though  how  a  coffin  could  be  preserved  in  that 
large  river,  so  as  to  be  found  again,  they  are 
not  agreed;  and  some  fly  after  their  manner 
to  Schem-hamphorasch,  which  most  will  regard 
as  vain  babblings. 

That  mummy  is  medicinal,  the  Arabian  Doc- 
tor Haly  delivereth,  and  divers  confirm ;  but 
of  the  particular  uses  thereof,  there  is  much 
discrepancy  of  opinion.  While  Hofmannus  pre- 
scribes the  same  to  epileptics,  Johan  de  Muralto 
commends  the  use  thereof  to  gouty  persons ; 
Bacon  likewise  extols  it  as  a  stiptic :  and  Jun- 
kenius  considers  it  of  efficacy  to  resolve  coagu- 
lated blood.  Meanwhile,  we  hardly  applaud 
Francis  the  First  of  France,  who  always  car- 
ried mummies  with  him  as  a  panacea  against 
all  disorders;  and  were  the  efficacy  thereof 
more  clearly  made  out,  scarce  conceive  the  use 
thereof  allowable  in  physic,  exceeding  the  bar- 
barities of  Cambyses,  and  turning  old  heroes 
unto  unworthy  potions.     Shall  Egypt  lend  out 


412  FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES. 

her  ancients  unto  chirurgeons  and  apothecaries, 
and  Cheops  and  Psammitticus  be  weighed  unto 
us  for  drugs?  Shall  we  eat  of  Chamnes  and 
Amosis  in  electuaries  and  pills,  and  be  cured 
by  cannibal  mixtures  ?  Surely  such  diet  is  dis- 
mal vampirism ;  and  exceeds  in  horror  the  black 
banquet  of  Domitian,  not  to  be  paralleled  except 
in  those  Arabian  feasts,  wherein  Ghoules  feed 
horribly. 

But  the  common  opinion  of  the  virtues  of 
mummy  bred  great  consumption  thereof,  and 
princes  and  great  men  contended  for  this  strange 
panacea,  wherein  Jews  dealt  largely,  manufac- 
turing mummies  from  dead  carcasses,  and  giving 
them  the  names  of  kings,  while  specifics  were 
compounded  from  crosses  and  gibbet  leavings. 
There  wanted  not  a  set  of  Arabians  who  coun- 
terfeited mummies  so  accurately,  that  it  needed 
great  skill  to  distinguish  the  false  from  the  true. 
Queasy  stomachs  would  hardly  fancy  the  doubt- 
ful potion,  wherein  one  might  so  easily  swallow 
a  cloud  for  his  Juno,  and  defraud  the  fowls  of 
the  air  while  in  conceit  enjoying  the  conserves 
of  Can  opus. 

*  yfc  tJc  Tfe  t|v 

Radzivil  hath  a  strange  story  of  some  mum- 
mies which  he  had  stowed  in  seven  chests, 
and  was  carrying  on  shipboard  from  Egypt, 
when   a   priest   on   the   mission,   while   at   his 


FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES.  413 

prayers,  was  tormented  by  two  ethnic  spectres 
or  devils,  a  man  and  a  woman,  both  black  and 
horrible  ;  and  at  the  same  time  a  great  storm 
at  sea,  which  threatened  shipwreck,  till  at  last 
they  were  enforced  to  pacify  the  enraged  sea, 
and  put  those  demons  to  flight  by  throwing 
their  mummy  freight  overboard,  and  so  with 
difficulty  escaped.  What  credit  the  relation 
of  the  worthy  person  deserves,  we  leave  unto 
others.  Surely,  if  true,  these  demons  were  Sa- 
tan's emissaries,  appearing  in  forms  answerable 
unto  Horus  and  Mompta,  the  old  deities  of 
Egypt,  to  delude  unhappy  men.  For  those 
dark  caves  and  mummy  repositories  are  Satan's 
abodes,  wherein  he  speculates  and  rejoices  on 
human  vainglory,  and  keeps  those  kings  and 
conquerors,  whom  alive  he  bewitched,  whole 
for  that  great  day,  when  he  will  claim  his  own, 
and  marshal  the  kings  of  Nilus  and  Thebes 
in  sad  procession  unto  the  pit. 

Death,  that  fatal  necessity  which  so  many 
would  overlook,  or  blinkingly  survey,  the  old 
Egyptians  held  continually  before  their  eyes. 
Their  embalmed  ancestors  they  carried  about 
at  their  banquets,  as  holding  them  still  a  part 
of  their  families,  and  not  thrusting  them  from 
their  places  at  feasts.  They  wanted  not  like- 
wise a  sad  preacher  at  their  tables  to  admonish 
them   daily   of   death,   surely   an   unnecessary 


414  FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES. 

discourse  while  they  banqueted  in  sepulchres. 
Whether  this  were  not  making  too  much  of 
death,  as  tending  to  assuefaction,  some  reason 
there  is  to  doubt;  but  certain  it  is  that  such 
practices  would  hardly  be  embraced  by  our 
modern  gourmands,  who  like  not  to  look  on 
faces  of  morta,  or  be  elbowed  by  mummies. 

Yet  in  those  huge  structures  and  pyramidal 
immensities,  of  the  builders  whereof  so  little 
is  known,  they  seemed  not  so  much  to  raise 
sepulchres  or  temples  to  death,  as  to  contemn 
and  disdain  it,  astonishing  heaven  with  their 
audacities,  and  looking  forward  with  delight  to 
their  interment  in  those  eternal  piles.  Of  their 
living  habitations  they  made  little  account,  con- 
ceiving of  them  but  as  hospitia,  or  inns,  while 
they  adorned  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead,  and, 
planting  thereon  lasting  bases,  defied  the  crum- 
bling touches  of  time  and  the  misty  vaporous- 
ness  of  oblivion.  Yet  all  were  but  Babel  vani- 
ties. Time  sadly  overcometh  all  things,  and 
is  now  dominant,  and  sitteth  upon  a  sphinx, 
and  looketh  unto  Memphis  and  old  Thebes, 
while  his  sister  Oblivion  reclineth  semisomnous 
on  a  pyramid,  gloriously  triumphing,  making 
puzzles  of  Titanian  erections,  and  turning  old 
glories  into  dreams.  History  sinketh  beneath 
her  cloud.  The  traveller,  as  he  paceth  amaz- 
edly  through  those  deserts,  asketh  of  her,  who 


FRAGMENT  ON  MUMMIES.  415 

buikled  them?  and  she  mumbleth   something, 
but  what  it  is  he  heareth  not. 

Egypt  itself  is  now  become  the  land  of  obliv- 
iousness, and  doteth.  Her  ancient  civility  is 
gone,  and  her  glory  hath  vanished  as  a  phan- 
tasma.  Her  youthful  days  are  over,  and  her 
face  hath  become  wrinkled  and  tetric.  She 
poreth  not  upon  the  heavens,  astronomy  is  dead 
unto  her,  and  knowledge  maketh  other  cycles. 
Canopus  is  afar  off,  Memnon  resoundeth  not 
to  the  sun,  and  Nilus  heareth  strange  voices. 
Her  monuments  are  but  hieroglyphically  sem- 
piternal. Osiris  and  Anubis,  her  averruncous 
deities,  have  departed,  while  Orus  yet  remains 
dimly  shadowing  the  principle  of  vicissitude 
and  the  effluxion  of  things,  but  receiveth  little 
oblation. 


On   Dreams 


ALF  our  days  we  pass  in  the  shadow 
I  of  the  earth;  and  the  brother  of 
death  exacteth  a  third  part  of  our 
lives.  A  good  part  of  our  sleep 
is  peered  out  with  visions  and  fantastical  ob- 
jects, wherein  we  are  confessedly  deceived. 
The  day  supplieth  us  with  truths ;  the  night 
with  fictions  and  falsehoods,  which  uncomforta- 
bly divide  the  natural  account  of  our  beings. 
And,  therefore,  having  passed  the  day  in  sober 
labours  and  rational  enquiries  of  truth,  we  are 
fain  to  betake  ourselves  unto  such  a  state  of 
being,  wherein  the  soberest  heads  have  acted 
all  the  monstrosities  of  melancholy,  and  which 
unto  open  eyes  are  no  better  than  folly  and 
madness. 

Happy  are  they  that  go  to  bed  with  grand 
music,  like  Pythagoras,  or  have  ways  to  com- 
pose the  fantastical  spirit,  whose  unruly  wan- 


ON  DREAMS.  417 

derings  take  off  inward  sleep,  filling  our  heads 
with  St.  Anthony's  visions,  and  the  dreams  of 
Lipara  in  the  sober  chambers  of  rest. 

Virtuous  thoughts  of  the  day  lay  up  good 
treasures  for  the  night;  whereby  the  impres- 
sions of  imaginary  forms  arise  into  sober  simili- 
tudes, acceptable  unto  our  slumbering  selves  and 
preparatory  unto  divine  impressions.*  Hereby 
Solomon's  sleep  was  happy.  Thus  prepared, 
Jacob  might  well  dream  of  angels  upon  a  pillow 
of  stone.  And  the  best  sleep  of  Adam  might 
be  the  best  of  any  after. f 

That  there  should  be  divine  dreams  seems 
unreasonably  doubted  by  Aristotle.  That  there 
are  demoniacal  dreams  we  have  little  reason  to 
doubt.  Why  may  there  not  be  angelical  ?  If 
there  be  guardian  spirits,  they  may  not  be  in- 
actively about  us  in  sleep ;  but  may  sometimes 
order  our  dreams :  and  many  strange  hints, 
instigations,  or  discourses,  which  are  so  amazing 
unto  us,  may  arise  from  such  foundations. 

But  the  phantasms  of  sleep  do  commonly 
walk  in  the  great  road  of  natural  and  animal 

*  Virtuous  thoughts,  tfc]  See  an  exquisite  passage  on  Dreams 
in  Religio  Medici  {ante,  pp.  145-147). 

t  the  best  sleep,  of  Adam,  <f  c]  The  only  sleep  of  Adam  re- 
corded is  that  which  God  caused  to  fall  upon  him,  and  which 
resulted  in  the  creation  of  woman.  It  does  not  very  clearly  ap- 
pear whether  Sir  Thomas  calls  it  the  best  sleep  of  Adam  in  allu- 
sion to  its  origin  or  its  result. 
27 


418  ON  DREAMS. 

dreams,  wherein  the  thoughts  or  actions  of  the 
day  are  acted  over  and  echoed  in  the  night.  J, 
Who  can  therefore  wonder  that  Chrysostom 
should  dream  of  St.  Paul,  who  daily  read  his 
epistles;  or  that  Cardan,  whose  head  was  so 
taken  up  about  the  stars,  should  dream  that 
his  soul  was  in  the  moon !  Pious  persons, 
whose  thoughts  are  daily  busied  about  heaven, 
and  the  blessed  state  thereof,  can  hardly  escape 
the  nightly  phantasms  of  it,  which  though  some- 
times taken  for  illuminations,  or  divine  dreams, 
yet  rightly  perpended  may  prove  but  animal 
visions,  and  natural  night-scenes  of  their  awak- 
ing contemplations. 

Many  dreams  are  made  out  by  sagacious 
exposition,  and  from  the  signature  of  their 
subjects ;  carrying  their  interpretation  in  their 
fundamental  sense  and  mystery  of  similitude, 
whereby,  he  that  understands  upon  what  natu- 
ral fundamental  every  notion  dependeth  may, 
by  symbolical  adaptation,  hold  a  ready  way  to 
read  the  characters  of  Morpheus.  In  dreams 
of  such  a  nature,  Artemidorus,  Achmet,  and 
Astrampsichus,  from  Greek,  Egyptian,  and 
Arabian  oneiro-criticism,  may  hint  some  inter- 
pretation:  who,  while  we  read  of  a  ladder  in 
Jacob's  dream,  will  tell  us  that  ladders  and 
scalary  ascents  signify  preferment;  and  while 
we  consider   the  dream  of  Pharaoh,  do  teach 


ON  DREAMS.  419 

us  that  rivers  overflowing  speak  plenty,  lean 
oxen,  famine  and  scarcity ;  and  therefore  it 
was  but  reasonable  in  Pharaoh  to  demand  the 
interpretation  from  his  magicians,  who,  being 
Egyptians,  should  have  been  well  versed  in 
symbols  and  the  hieroglyphical  notions  of  things. 
The  greatest  tyrant  in  such  divinations  was 
Nabuchodonosor,  while,  besides  the  interpre- 
tation, he  demanded  the  dream  itself;  which 
being  probably  determined  by  divine  immission, 
might  escape  the  common  road  of  phantasms, 
that  might  have  been  traced  by  Satan. 

When  Alexander,  going  to  besiege  Tyre, 
dreamt  of  a  Satyr,  it  was  no  hard  exposition 
for  a  Grecian  to  say,  "  Tyre  will  be  thine." 
He  that  dreamed  that  he  saw  his  father  washed 
by  Jupiter  and  anointed  by  the  sun,  had  cause 
to  fear  that  he  might  be  crucified,  whereby  his 
body  would  be  washed  by  the  rain,  and  drop 
by  the  heat  of  the  sun.  The  dream  of  Ves- 
pasian was  of  harder  exposition ;  as  also  that 
of  the  Emperor  Mauritius,  concerning  his  suc- 
cessor Phocas.  And  a  man  might  have  been 
hard  put  to  it  to  interpret  the  language  of 
iEsculapius,  when  to  a  consumptive  person 
he  held  forth  his  fingers  ;  implying  thereby 
that  his  cure  lay  in  dates,  from  the  homo- 
nomy  of  the  Greek,  which  signifies  dates  and 
fingers.  * 


420  ON  DREAMS. 

We  owe  unto  dreams  that  Galen  was  a  phy- 
sician, Dion  an  historian,  and  that  the  world 
hath  seen  some  notable  pieces  of  Cardan ;  yet, 
he  that  should  order  his  affairs  by  dreams,  or 
make  the  night  a  rule  unto  the  day,  might  be 
ridiculously  deluded ;  wherein  Cicero  is  much 
to  be  pitied,  who  having  excellently  discoursed 
of  the  vanity  of  dreams,  was  yet  undone  by  the 
flattery  of  his  own,  which  urged  him  to  apply 
himself  unto  Augustus. 

However  dreams  may  be  fallacious  concern- 
ing outward  events,  yet  may  they  be  truly 
significant  at  home  ;  and  whereby  we  may  more 
sensibly  understand  ourselves.  Men  act  in  sleep 
with  some  conformity  unto  their  awaked  senses ; 
and  consolations  or  discouragements  may  be 
drawn  from  dreams  which  intimately  tell  us 
ourselves.  Luther  was  not  like  to  fear  a  spirit 
in  the  night,  when  such  an  apparition  would 
not  terrify  him  in  the  day.  Alexander  would 
hardly  have  run  away  in  the  sharpest  combats 
of  sleep,  nor  Demosthenes  have  stood  stoutly 
to  it,  who  was  scarce  able  to  do  it  in  his  pre- 
pared senses. 

Persons  of  radical  integrity  will  not  easily  be 
perverted  in  their  dreams,  nor  noble  minds 
do  pitiful  things  in  sleep.  Crassus  would  have 
hardly  been  bountiful  in  a  dream,  whose  fist 
was  so  close  awake.     But  a  man  might  have 


ON  DREAMS.  421 

lived  all  his  life  upon  the  sleeping  hand  of  An- 
tonius.* 

There  is  an  art  to  make  dreams,  as  well  as 
their  interpretations ;  and  physicians  will  tell 
us  that  some  food  makes  turbulent,  some  gives 
quiet  dreams.  Cato,  who  doated  upon  cab- 
bage, might  find  the  crude  effects  thereof  in  his 
sleep ;  wherein  the  Egyptians  might  find  some 
advantage  by  their  superstitious  abstinence  from 
onions.  Pythagoras  might  have  [had]  calmer 
sleeps,  if  he  [had]  totally  abstained  from  beans. 
Even  Daniel,  the  great  interpreter  of  dreams, 
in  his  leguminous  diet  seems  to  have  chosen 
no  advantageous  food  for  quiet  sleeps,  accord- 
ing to  Grecian  physic. 

To  add  unto  the  delusion  of  dreams,  the 
fantastical  objects  seem  greater  than  they  are ; 
and  being  beheld  in  the  vaporous  state  of  sleep, 
enlarge  their  diameters  unto  us ;  whereby  it 
may  prove  more  easy  to  dream  of  giants  than 
pigmies.  Democritus  might  seldom  dream  of 
atoms,  who  so  often  thought  of  them.  He 
almost  might  dream  himself  a  bubble  extending 
unto  the  eighth  sphere.  A  little  water  makes 
a  sea ;  a  small  puff  of  wind  a  tempest.  A  grain 
of  sulphur  kindled  in  the  blood  may  make  a 

*  sleeping  hand  of  Antonius.~\  Who  awake  "was  open-handed 
and  liberal,  in  contrast  with,  the  close-fsledness  of  Crassus,  and 
therefore  would  have  been  munificent  in  his  dreams. 


422  ON  DREAMS. 

flame  like  iEtna;  and  a  small  spark  in  the 
bowels  of  Olympias  a  lightning  over  all  the 
chamber. 

But,  beside  these  innocent  delusions,  there 
is  a  sinful  state  of  dreams.  Death  alone,  not 
sleep,  is  able  to  put  an  end  unto  sin ;  and  there 
may  be  a  night-book  of  our  iniquities ;  for  beside 
the  transgressions  of  the  day,  casuists  will  tell 
us  of  mortal  sins  in  dreams,  arising  from  evil 
precogitations ;  meanwhile  human  law  regards 
not  noctambulos ;  and  if  a  night-walker  should 
break  his  neck,  or  kill  a  man,  takes  no  notice 
of  it. 

Dionysius  was  absurdly  tyrannical  to  kill  a 
man  for  dreaming  that  he  had  killed  him ;  and 
really  to  take  away  his  life,  who  had  but  fan- 
tastically taken  away  his.  Lamia  was  ridicu- 
lously unjust  to  sue  a  young  man  for  a  reward, 
who  had  confessed  that  pleasure  from  her  in  a 
dream  which  she  had  denied  unto  his  awaking 
senses:  conceiving  that  she  had  merited  some- 
what from  his  fantastical  fruition  and  shadow 
of  herself.  If  there  be  such  debts,  we  owe 
deeply  unto  sympathies  ;  but  the  common  spirit 
of  the  world  must  be  ready  in  such  arrearages. 

If  some  have  swooned,  they  may  have  also 
died  in  dreams,  since  death  is  but  a  confirmed 
swooning.  Whether  Plato  died  in  a  dream, 
as  some  deliver,  he  must  rise  again  to  inform 


ON  DREAMS. 


423 


us.  That  some  have  never  dreamed  is  as  im- 
probable as  that  some  have  never  laughed. 
That  children  dream  not  the  first  half-year; 
that  men  dream  not  in  some  countries,  with 
many  more,  are  unto  me  sick  men's  dreams ; 
dreams  out  of  the  ivory  gate,*  and  visions  be- 
fore midnight. 

*  the  ivory  gate.]  The  poets  suppose  two  gates  of  sleep,  the 
one  of  horn,  from  which  true  dreams  proceed ;  the  other  of  ivory, 
Avhich  sends  forth  false  dreams. 


Letters. 


To  his  Son,  a  Lieutenant  of  his  Majesty's 
ship  the  Marie  Rose,  at  Portsmouth. 

[May  or  June,  1667.] 

EAR  SONNE,  —  I  am  very  glad 
you  are  returned  from  the  strayghts 
mouth  once  more  in  health  and 
safetie.  God  continue  his  mercifull 
providence  over  you.  I  hope  you  maintaine  a 
thankful  heart  and  daylie  bless  him  for  your 
great  deliverances  in  so  many  fights  and  dan- 
gers of  the  sea,  whereto  you  have  been  exposed 
upon  several  seas,  and  in  all  seasons  of  the 
yeare.  When  you  first  under  tooke  this  service, 
you  cannot  butt  remember  that  I  caused  you  to 
read  the  description  of  all  the  sea  fights  of  note, 
in  Plutark,  the  Turkish  history,  and  others ; 
and  withall  gave  you  the  description  of  fortitude 
left  by  Aristotle,  "  Fortitudinis  est  inconcussum 
hvairXrjKTov   a   mortis   metu  et   constantem  in 


LETTERS.  4&o 

malis  et  intrepidum  ad  pericula  esse,  et  malle 
honest^  mori  quam  turpiter  servari  et  victorias 
causam  praestare.  Praeterea  autem  fortitudinis 
est  laborare  et  tolerare.  Accedit  autem  fortitu- 
dini  audacia  et  animi  praestantia  et  fiducia,  et 
confidentia,  ad  haec  industria  et  tolerantia." 
That  which  I  then  proposed  for  your  example, 
I  now  send  you  for  your  commendation.  For, 
to  give  you  your  due,  in  the  whole  cours  of 
this  warre,  both  in  fights  and  other  sea  affairs, 
hazards  and  perills,  you  have  very  well  fullfilled 
this  character  in  yourself.  And  allthough  you 
bee  not  forward  in  commending  yourself,  yett 
others  have  not  been  backward  to  do  it  for  you, 
and  have  so  earnestly  expressed  your  courage, 
valour,  and  resolution ;  your  sober,  studious, 
and  observing  cours  of  life ;  your  generous  and 
obliging  disposition,  and  the  notable  knowledge 
you  have  obtayned  in  military  and  all  kind  of 
sea  affayres,  that  it  affoordeth  no  small  comfort 
unto  mee.  And  I  would  by  no  meanes  omitt 
to  declare  the  same  unto  yourself,  that  you 
may  not  want  that  encouragement  which  you 
so  well  deserve.  They  that  do  well  need  not 
commend  themselves  ;  others  will  be  readie 
enough  to  do  it  for  them.  And  because  you 
may  understand  how  well  I  have  heard  of  you, 
I  would  not  omitt  to  communicate  this  unto 
you.     Mr.  Scudamore,  your  sober  and  learned 


426  LETTERS. 

chaplaine,  in  your  voyage  with  Sir  Jeremie 
Smith,  gives  you  no  small  commendations  for 
a  sober,  studious,  courageous,  and  diligent  per- 
son ;  that  he  had  not  met  with  any  of  the  fleet 
like  you,  so  civill,  observing,  and  diligent  to 
your  charge,  with  the  reputation  and  love  of 
all  the  shippe ;  and  that  without  doubt  you 
would  make  a  famous  man,  and  a  reputation 
to  your  country.  Captain  Fenne,  a  meere 
rough  seaman,  sayd  that  if  hee  were  to  choose, 
hee  would  have  your  company  before  any  he 
knewe.  Mr.  W.  B.  of  Lynn,  a  stout  volunteer 
in  the  Dreadnought,  sayd,  in  my  hearing,  that 
you  were  a  deserving  person,  and  of  as  good 
a  reputation  as  any  young  man  in  the  fleet. 
Another,  who  was  with  you  at  Schellinck's, 
highly  commended  your  sobrietie,  carefullnesse, 
undaunted  and  lasting  courage  through  all  the 
cours  of  the  warre ;  that  you  had  acquired  no 
small  knowledge  in  navigation,  as  well  as  the 
military  part.  That  you  understood  every  thing 
that  belonged  unto  a  shippe ;  and  had  been 
so  strict  and  criticall  an  observer  of  the  shipps 
in  the  fleet,  that  you  could  name  any  shippe 
sayling  at  some  distance ;  and  by  some  private 
mark  and  observation  which  you  had  made, 
would  hardly  mistake  one,  if  seventie  shippes 
should  sayle  at  a  reasonable  distance  by  you. 
You  are  much  obliged  to  Sir  Thomas  Allen, 


I  LETTERS.  427 

who  upon  all  occasions  speakes  highly  of  you ;  * 
and  is  to  be  held  to  the  fleet  by  encouragement 
and  preferment :  for  I  would  not  have  him 
leave  the  sea,  which  otherwise  probably  he 
might,  having  parts  to  make  himself  consider- 
able by  divers  other  wayes.  Mr.  I.  told  mee 
you  were  compleately  constituted  to  do  your 
country  service,  honour,  and  reputation,  as  be- 
ing exceeding  faythfull,  valiant,  diligent,  gen- 
erous, vigilant,  observing,  very  knowing,  and 
a  scholar.  How  you  behaved  yourself  in  the 
Foresight,  at  the  hard  service  at  Bergen,  in 
Norway,  captain  Brookes,  the  commander,  ex- 
pressed unto  many  before  his  death,  not  long 
after,  in  Suffolk ;  and  particularly  unto  my  lord 
of  Sandwich,  then  admiral,  which  thoughe  you 
would  not  tell  me  yourself,  yet  was  I  informed 
from  a  person  of  no  ordinary  qualitie,  C.  Har- 
land,  who  when  you  came  aboard  the  admiral 
after  the  taking  of  the  East  India  shippes,  heard 
my  lord  of  Sandwich,  to  speak  thus  unto  you. 
"  Sir,  you  are  a  person  whom  I  am  glad  to 
see,  and  must  be  better  acquainted  with  you, 
upon  the  account  which  captain  Brooke  gave 
mee  of  you.  I  must  encourage  such  persons 
and  give  them  their  due,  which  will  stand  so 

*  There  is  evidently  some  omission  here,  either  in  the  original 
or  the  copy  ;  the  following  sentence  appears  to  be  Sir  Thomas 
Allen's  remark,  the  beginning  of  which  is  apparently  wanting. 


428  LETTERS. 

firmely  and  courageously  unto  it  upon  extrem- 
ities, wherein  true  valour  is  best  discovered. 
Hee  told  mee  you  were  the  only  man  that 
stuck  closely  and  boldly  to  him  unto  the  last, 
and  that  after  so  many  of  his  men  and  his 
lieutenant  was  slayne,  hee  could  not  have  well 
knowne  what  to  have  done  without  you."  Butt 
beside  these  I  must  not  fayle  to  tell  you  how 
well  I  like  it,  that  you  are  not  only  Marti  but 
Mercurio,  and  very  much  pleased  to  find  how 
good  a  student  you  have  been  at  sea,  and 
particularly  with  what  success  you  have  read 
divers  bookes  there,  especially  Homer  and  Ju- 
venal with  Lubines  notes.  Being  much  sur- 
prised to  find  you  so  perfect  therein  that  you 
had  them  in  a  manner  without  booke,  and 
could  proceed  in  any  verse  I  named  unto  you. 
I  am  glad  you  can  overcome  Lucan.  The 
other  bookes  which  I  sent,  are,  I  perceive, 
not  hard  unto  you,  and  having  such  industrie 
adjoined  unto  your  apprehension  and  memorie, 
you  are  like  to  proceed  [not  only]  a  noble 
navigator,  butt  a  great  schollar,  which  will  be 
much  to  your  honour  and  my  satisfaction  and 
content.  I  am  much  pleased  to  find  that  you 
take  the  draughts  of  remarkable  things  where 
ere  you  go ;  for  that  may  bee  very  usefull, 
and  will  fasten  themselves  the  better  in  your 
memorie 


LETTERS.  429 

To  his  Daughter,  Mrs.  Lyttleton. 

Sept.  15,  [168 1.] 

DEARE  BETTY,  — Tho  it  were  noe 
wonder  this  very  tempestious  and  stormy 
winter,  yet  I  am  sorry  you  had  such  an  un- 
comfortable sight  as  to  behold  a  ship  cast  away 
so  neer  you ;  this  is  noe  strange  tho  unwelcom 
sight  at  Yarmouth,  Cromer,  Winterton,  and 
sea  towns :  tho  you  could  not  saue  them,  I 
hope  they  were  the  better  for  your  prayers, 
both  those  that  perishd  and  those  that  scapd. 
Some  wear  away  in  calmes,  some  are  caried 
away  in  storms :  we  come  into  the  world  one 
way,  there  are  many  gates  to  goe  out  of  it. 
God  giue  us  grace  to  fit  and  prepare  our  selues 
for  that  necessity,  and  to  be  ready  to  leaue  all 
when  and  how  so  ever  he  shall  call.  The  prayers 
of  health  are  most  like  to  be  acceptable ;  sickness 
may  choak  our  devotions,  and  we  are  accepted 
rather  by  our  life  then  our  death:  we  have  a 
rule  how  to  lead  the  one,  the  other  is  uncertain, 
and  may  come  in  a  moment.  God,  I  hope, 
will  spare  you  to  serve  him  long,   who  didst 

begin  early  to  serve  him Your  self  is  not 

impatient,  you  will  haue  noe  cause  to  be  sad : 
giue  no  way  unto  melancholy,  which  is  purely 
sadnes  without  a  reasonable  cause 


Resolves. 

[Found  in  one  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne's 
Commonplace-Books.] 

O  be  sure  that  no  day  pass,  with- 
out calling  upon  God  in  a  solemn 
formed  prayer,  seven  times  within 
the  compass  thereof;  that  is,  in  the 
morning,  and  at  night,  and  five  times  between ; 
taken  up  long  ago  from  the  example  of  David 
and  Daniel,  and  a  compunction  and  shame  that 
I  had  omitted  it  so  long,  when  I  needfully  read 
of  the  custom  of  the  Mahometans  to  pray  five 
times  in  the  day. 


To  pray  and  magnify  God  in  the  night,  and 
my  dark  bed,  when  I  could  not  sleep :  to  have 
short  ejaculations  whenever  I  awaked ;  and  when 
the  four-o'clock  bell  *  awoke  me,  or  my  first  dis- 

*  A  bell  which  tolls  (or  ought  to  toll,  if  the  old  sexton  doe3 
not  oversleep  himself)  in  pursuance  of  the  will  of  a  person  who, 
after  wandering  about  for  a  considerable  time  on  Mousehold 


RESOLVES.  431 

covery  of  the  light,  to  say  the  collect  of  our 
liturgy,  Eternal  God,  who  hath  safely  brought 
me  to  the  beginning  of  this  day,  &c. 

To  pray  in  all  places  where  privacy  inviteth ; 
in  any  house,  highway,  or  street ;  and  to  know 
no  street  or  passage  in  this  city  which  may  not 
witness  that  I  have  not  forgot  God  and  my 
Saviour  in  it :  and  that  no  parish  or  town  where 
I  have  been  may  not  say  the  like. 

To  take  occasion  of  praying  upon  the  sight 
of  any  church,  which  I  see  or  pass  by,  as  I  ride 
about. 

Since  the  necessities  of  the  sick,  and  una- 
voidable diversions  of  my  profession,  keep  me 
often  from  church,  yet  to  take  all  possible  care 
that  I  might  never  miss  sacraments  upon  their 
accustomed  days. 

To  pray  daily  and  particularly  for  sick  pa- 
tients, and  in  general  for  others,  wheresoever, 
howsoever,  and  under  whose  care  soever;  and 
at  the  entrance  into  the  house  of  the  sick,  to 
say,  The  peace  and  mercy  of  God  be  in  this 
place. 

Heath,  having  lost  his  way  in  a  winter-night's  storm,  at  length 
was  directed  to  the  city  by  the  tolling  of  a  bell  in  the  Church  of 
St.  Peter,  Mancroft.  the  residence  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne. 


432  RESOLVES. 

After  a  sermon,  to  make  a  thanksgiving,  and 
desire  a  blessing,  and  to  pray  for  the  minister. 

In  tempestuous  weather,  lightning,  and  thun- 
der, either  night  or  day,  to  pray  for  God's 
merciful  protection  upon  all  men,  and  His  mer- 
cy upon  their  souls,  bodies,  and  goods. 

Upon  sight  of  beautiful  persons,  to  bless  God  in 

his  creatures,  to  pray  for  the  beauty  of  their 

souls,  and  to  enrich  them  with  inward 

graces  to  be  answerable  unto  the  out- 

ward.     Upon  sight  of  deformed 

persons,  to  send  them  inward 

graces,  and  enrich  their 

souls,  and  give  them 

the  beauty  of  the 

resurrection. 


Cambridge  :   Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Co. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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